Rookie Blue
by KjWolfsound
Summary: Andy needs a little time to figure out if she can be with Sam, but will things turn for the worst when a case hits a little too close to home?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rookie Blue (but you have to admit, it would be _pretty_ cool if I did).**

Andy McNally sighed as she sat in Sam's hospital room. She'd been in there for four hours, and at the hospital for seven hours. Oliver, she figured, still didn't know that Sam had been shot, because he'd been resting up in his hospital room. Best and Dov were standing outside Chloe's hospital room. Her husband, who no one had known even existed until that day, wouldn't permit Dov to go into the room. Chris was also with Dov, to make sure that he was alright, and Gail and Traci were chatting quietly in Sam's hospital room with Andy. No one knew where Nick had gone, however. They knew he was still in the hospital, though, and Andy figured he was thinking about what she'd told him.

Andy had broken it off with Nick, but she wasn't just going to leave Nick to be with Sam. Sam wasn't even the only reason she broke it off, though. The guilt of dating Gail, her own friend's, ex, had started to really get to her after bit. But Sam was still a major part of it. What she'd said to Sam in the ambulance, about her loving him, had just slipped out. She was just sitting there, watching him bleed, and she was just hit with all of the feelings she'd had for him while they were still together. But she knew that she still meant it. Andy, however, knew that it would just be wrong to leave Nick and then go straight to being with Sam. She was better than that. She just needed some time to think. After all, Sam had broken her heart, more than once. She just needed to think about everything. She wasn't sure if she still had the same feelings for Sam that she used to, and she figured that the only reason that they'd suddenly come back was because she thought Sam was going to possibly die.

Andy glanced over at Sam while Traci and Gail started having a small side conversation about something that she wasn't really interested in. She was worried about what he'd say when he woke up. What if he thought they were immediately back together because of what she'd said to him in the ambulance? If something like that happened, she'd be screwed. She wouldn't want to flat out say 'no' right after he wakes up after being shot, but she couldn't just say '_yes'_.

"What time is it?" Andy sighed, looking over at Traci. She didn't feel like taking out her phone to check. She was too tired. Traci had on a watch. She could check.

"Four," Traci replied, her voice heavy with drowsiness.

"I'm _tired,_" Gail groaned miserably. "Why is Best making us stay awake?"

Best had told the three of them to stay awake until Sam woke up, and it hadn'd seemed so bad until they were in the room for three hours, and almost five hours inside the room had gone by.

"I don't know," Traci sighed, "but if he doesn't let us get some sleep soon, one of us is going to have to go up and ask him when we can."

"Not it!" Andy and Gail blurted right away. None of them wanted to move around anymore. They were all exhausted from the long day. They'd all been awake for at _least_ twenty hours.

"Ugh, fine," Traci grumbled as she stood up. She walked out of the room, and Andy started regretting having Traci be the one to go up to ask Best if they could finally get some sleep. Now she was stuck in the room with Gail, and an awkward silence had formed. Ever since Andy told Gail that she slept with Nick, they hadn't really been on great speaking terms.

"So," Andy said awkwardly, trying to break the silence, "how are y-"

"Shh," Gail hushed Andy quietly, holding up a finger in front of her face, "you're too loud." Gail was leaning back against the wall, her eyes closed as she tried to savor the moment of silence and rest.

"Gail," Andy sighed a few seconds later, "I know you don't want to talk to me, but-"

"Shhh," Gail silenced her once again, shushing softly. Andy just sighed, giving up. Neither of them really wanted to talk anyway; not because of the tension between the two, but because of how exhausted they were.

Andy closed her eyes for a moment as she waited for Traci. A few minutes later, she heard someone walking into the room, so she opened her eyes to see who it was. Best had come walking in with Traci, and glanced at Sam before looking over at Andy and Gail. He looked a little amused when he saw Gail, head leaning back against the wall, asleep on the chair. Andy couldn't help but chuckle a bit when she saw her too. She'd had her eyes closed for at most three minutes, and now she was asleep, and was actually snoring a bit.

"Sir?" Andy said in a tired voice, diverting her attention back to her staff sergeant.

"Get some sleep McNally," he said, also sounding tired, "you've had a long day. I just didn't want him to wake up while you were all asleep. I guess it couldn't hurt, though, for you guys to get some shuteye."

"Oh, thank you," Andy sighed in relief. Best just gave her a brief nod before walking back out of the room. Traci sat back down in her chair and sighed tiredly, looking at Sam once more before closing her own eyes to get some sleep. Andy didn't fall asleep right away, though. She looked at Sam for a few minutes longer, thinking about what she was going to do. After a while, she eventually decided she couldn't stay awake any longer, closed her eyes, and fell asleep right away.

* * *

Sam woke up, but didn't open his eyes right away. He didn't remember exactly what happened at first, but he knew he wasn't in his own bed. One, because it didn't _feel_ like his own bed. It was hard. And two, he could hear quiet beeping. Also, it didn't smell like his bedroom. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking them a few times to clear his vision. Once he realized that he was in a hospital room, he remembered everything that had happened. Including what Andy had said to him in the ambulance. He smiled a little, thinking about it.

He glanced around the room to see if she was in there, having not really paid attention to who was there when he'd just woken up. She wasn't in the front of the room on one of the three chairs, where Dov or Chris were, and she wasn't to the right of his bed in one of the three chairs where Best and Traci were, so he looked to his left, where there were three other chairs. Gail was in one of them, and beside her there was an empty chair, and beside that chair was another chair, which Andy was asleep on. He smiled at seeing her, and looked at her for a moment,

After a while, he tried to sit up, and sighed when it hurt too much. He bit his lip miserably, not liking the fact that he was shot in the stomach. Then again, why _would_ he like it. He grinned, thinking of one reason. What Andy had said to him. If they ended up getting back together, that could easily make up for him being shot.

Sam glanced up at the clock. It was one o'clock. After about a half hour, he heard Andy shifting in her chair, and he glanced over at her, smiling again as he looked at her. She was just so beautiful. He missed her, he really did, and he hoped that he'd get another chance with her. He really blew it last time, and the time before that. If he didn't get back together with her, he didn't know what he'd do.

Andy didn't open her eyes until about five minutes later, and even then, they were still only halfway open. She sighed heavily, and Sam smiled at her.

"Good afternoon," he whispered, grinning.

Andy opened her eyes wider and smiled, just realizing that Sam was awake. "Hi," she said, smiling a little as well, "how're you feeling?"

"Like I got shot," Sam answered in a tired voice, although he grinned still.

"Well that's what you get for not having your gun when you're supposed to," Andy smiled.

"And it's what I get for _someone_ not letting me leave the station when I wanted," Sam added, still smirking as he remembered how he was leaving the station at about the same time that Kevin Ford had gotten there, but Andy wouldn't let him.

A sad expression replaced Andy's previously happy face, and she looked down at the ground, feeling guilty. Sam bit his lip, realizing that he'd made Andy feel guilty. "Hey," he said, "it was just a joke."

Andy didn't respond, and Sam sighed sadly, pitying Andy because she looked like she was blaming herself for everything.

"Andy," he told her seriously, "it's not your fault. I mean it." Andy only shook her head. "Hey," he tried again, "I really do mean it. It isn't your fault that I got shot. You were only trying to _stop_ me from getting hurt."

Andy looked up at him, her expression still sad, and her eyes watery with guilt.

"I mean it," Sam said honestly, smiling slightly. "Don't blame yourself for something that's not your fault."

Andy smiled a little, and she seemed less sad. "You still should've had your gun," she told him.

"To be fair," Sam defended himself, smiling more now that he knew that Andy was no longer upset, "I was on my way to get it when he was about to shoot Nick." His smiled faded when he thought about Nick. Andy was still with him.

"What's wrong?" Andy asked, furrowing her brow as she saw that Sam was no longer smiling.

"Nothing," Sam started. He was about to act as though nothing was bothering him, but then he decided that it couldn't really hurt to _ask_ the question he wanted to ask. "Did I say what I said back there for nothing?" Sam asked, staring straight ahead. "You know, right before we saw Oliver's car in the lot."

Andy bit her lip, and didn't reply for a moment. No, it wasn't for nothing, but it didn't mean that she'd jump right back into Sam's arms. She needed some time to think, still. "No," she said after a few seconds, "I just- I need some time to think about it. I can't just leave Nick and come back to you right away."

Sam sighed. "So Nick and you are still-"

"No," Andy interrupted, not wanting Sam to think that she and Nick were still together, "I broke it off after we got to the hospital. Like I said, I just need some time to think. Nick and I aren't together anymore, but you and I can't be together right now either. I _really_ just need some time to think."

"About what?" Sam asked her, actually wanting the answer. If there was a reason that Andy wouldn't want to be with him at the moment other than just because she didn't want to leave Nick and go to another guy right away, than Sam wanted to know it.

"Just, if it can work," Andy said, looking at Sam almost apologetically. "It's just, we've done this before, and something always happens. I just, I need some time. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Sam said truthfully, smiling at Andy understandingly, "it's fine. You're right, we've been here before - well, not _here,_ me being shot and all - but we've been here before, and things have happened. I can understand that you need some time. Just know that whenever you've made up you're decision, I'll be here, waiting. You just tell me when you've figured it out."

"Thank you, Sam," Andy said, feeling grateful that Sam was understanding the way he was, "really. Believe me, I _really_ want us to get back together again, but I just need to think about it first."

"Yeah," Sam nodded lightly, "I get it. It's fine. I promise you, though, that this time I mean it. I'm here, and I'll always be here."

"What about Marlo?" Andy asked, looking at Sam seriously.

"Has she showed up here yet?" Sam asked knowingly.

"No," Andy replied, realizing that Marlo hadn't even come to the hospital yet.

"Well there's your answer."

"Sam," Andy sighed, actually feeling somewhat bad for Cruz.

"Andy," Sam said, "you have to admit it, if it weren't for Marlo, none of this would've happened. Ford wouldn't have come after 15, he wouldn't have shot Price, he wouldn't have taken Oliver, and I wouldn't be shot. Plus, she hasn't even come to see me yet. That has to show something."

Andy sighed, realizing that Sam was right. "Yeah," she agreed, "I guess you're right about that."

Sam glanced around the room, just then realizing that they'd been talking about getting back together in front of everyone, including Best. Sure, they were asleep, but they'd still risked the chance of having someone in the room overhear their conversation had someone woken up.

"You do realize we were just talking about all that in front of everyone," Sam grinned as he looked at Andy, "Best included."

Andy laughed a little. "Your fault, not mine," she chuckled, "at least they're all asleep."

Sam couldn't help but grin widely as he thought about how stupid they had been, even if everyone was asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Traci woke up about half an hour later, while Andy and Sam were quietly talking to each other casually, no longer on the subject about Andy needing time to think. The three talked for a few minutes, then Dov and Chris woke up, and they woke up Best, who woke up a not-so-happy Gail.

After about an hour or so, Best announced that it'd be best for Sam's sake to let him get some rest. Sam protested at first, but then finally gave in, knowing that Best was right. Everyone left the room, and Best said that he was going to go tell Oliver that Sam had woken up, and that he was fine. Andy, having ridden to the hospital in the ambulance, was walking with Traci to the parking lot to get a ride back to the station.

As Andy and Traci were walking through the parking lot, they walked past Nick's car. Andy, not expecting him to still be at the hospital because she hadn't seen him in hours, was a little surprised.

"Hey," she heard Nick say, climbing out of the driver's seat. Andy stopped, and told Traci to wait for her in the car, then she walked towards Nick.

"Hey," Andy greeted him, still feeling bad about breaking it off with him the night before.

"Swarek okay?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," Andy nodded. "He's fine." Andy stopped for a moment, then felt that she needed to say something else. "Look, Nick," Andy said, "I'm not leaving you for him. I just want to get that clear. I just- I need a little time to think. That's all. I just- I don't want you thinking that I'd just _leave_ you for someone else, because I wouldn't do that."

"I know," Nick replied, smiling a little, even though Andy could see the sadness in his eyes, "don't worry, Andy. I understand." Andy just looked at him apologetically, and Nick put a hand on her shoulder. "I mean it," he said, "don't worry."

"Please tell me we're going to stay friends," Andy said, "because I've been in situations like this, where people say the same _stupid_ cliche lines like that, and then it ends up not being the truth. And I _really_ want to stay friends with-"

"We're still friends," Nick replied honestly, "no worries, Andy. I mean it."

"Okay," Andy said, relieved, "good."

"Alright, we should get back to the station now. I think Traci's waiting for you," he smiled slightly, pointing towards where Traci was sitting in her car looking towards Andy.

"Yeah," Andy nodded, "I guess we should." Andy smiled slightly at Nick before she turned to walk away, the smile leaving her face. She couldn't help but think that she and Nick weren't going to be as great friends as they'd been before they'd gotten together. When she and Sam broke up, it took a while before they could still be friends, and they weren't as great friends then as they had been before.

"Thanks for waiting," Andy thanked her friend as she climbed into Traci's car.

"No problem," Traci assured her, "so, you guys are good, right?"

"I think," Andy shrugged, "that's what he said. But I don't know." Traci and Andy had spoken briefly the night before about how everything with Andy, Nick, and Sam, so she knew about it.  
"I'm sure he understands," Traci said, glancing at her friend as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"I hope so," Andy said, looking out the window. She didn't feel like talking about everything with Nick and Sam at the moment, and Traci caught onto that, and dropped the subject.

Once they were at the station, Andy got out of the uniform she'd been wearing since the day before, took a shower, and changed into the extra uniform in her locker. As she left the locker room, she saw Luke and Traci talking, and clenched her jaw. There was another cop she'd dated who didn't work out.

Traci said something to Luke, looking a little annoyed. "Yeah well you'll just have to deal with it," Luke said somewhat arrogantly.

"Pardon me?" Traci questioned, giving Luke a now annoyed and shocked look at whatever he'd said to her."Look, Nash," Luke sighed, agitated, "if you have a problem with this, go ahead and talk to Best about it. I have to get to work now, maybe you should do the same."

Luke turned and walked away from Traci, clenching his jaw, and Traci rolled her eyes, annoyed, as she walked towards Andy. Andy looked at Traci questioningly, curious about whatever was going on between the two. "What was that all about?" she asked.

"Callaghan is being an ass about a case Sam and I've been working on," Traci sighed irritatedly.

"How?" Andy asked her friend.

"Okay," Traci explained, sounding ticked off with Luke, "so Sam and I have been working on this case for about a month now, and I think we _finally_ found out who our guy is a few days ago. We were _supposed_ to bring him in for questioning in two days, but _Callaghan_ wants to start fresh. From nothing."

"He can't do that," Andy said, giving Traci a confused look, "can he?"

"Yeah," Traci replied, "he can. And he did. A month's worth of work, gone."

"But this isn't his case," Andy said.

"It is now that Sam's in the hospital," Traci sighed, "and now _he's_ working with me."

"That's just _wonderful,_" Andy said sarcastically.

"Yep," Traci said, rolling her eyes in annoyance with Luke.

Andy was about to say something else, but then Best walked past them and told them that he needed them in the parade room. Andy and Traci walked in, and Gail and Dov were already there. Chris, Nick, and a few other officers came in after them. Steve sat down with Traci at the back of the room. Luke walked in along with Best after a minute or two, and he and Traci exchanged glances, each of them slightly annoyed.

Everyone in the room was talking quietly, and they all stopped when best walked up to the front of the room. "Alright," he started, looking at everyone, "I understand that a lot of you are probably concerned for our detective, Sam Swarek, who was shot yesterday night, Officer Shaw, who was taken by Kevin Ford, and also officer Price, who was shot aswell." He stopped for a moment after saying Chloe's name, but continued a second later. "I find it necessary to inform you all that Swarek and Shaw are alright, and that Swark will be back at the division as of next month, Shaw, next week." He stopped while everyone in the room clapped a bit, and then continued once everyone was silent again. "Officer Price's condition, however," he said, obviously unhappy to talk about his goddaughter's condition, "is not so simple. She suffered from a gun shot wound in the neck, but the doctors were able to stableize her. She's currently at the hospital. But there is a- there's a clot in her carotid artery that can cause a number of different things, such as stroke and paralysis. The doctors want to operate to remove it, but there also risks in having that done, and at the moment, the person with the authority to chose what is to be done doesn't want the surgery to be done. The doctors are going to treat her with anticoagulants that they hope will get rid of the clot." He stopped himself once again to take a breath, but then got himself together.

"What happened yesterday was unexpected, and unacceptable," Best continued, looking at everyone seriously. "What happened yesterday was not only an attack on our _division_, but also on our_ officers_. Three of our own almost lost their lives yesterday, and that is unacceptable. I will _not_ tolerate this happening again. _No one_ attacks this division and gets away with it. Yes, Kevin Ford is dead, but I will _not_ tolerate someone attacking this division again. What happened yesterday is _not_ right. If _anything_ like this _ever_ happens again, we will _not_ let someone attack our officers the way that they did. This will _never_ happen again.

He stopped and looked around the room, a grave expression on his face. Everyone in the room looked at him seriously, knowing that it was an extremely serious subject. Dov was looking at him seriously, too, obviously thinking about Chloe. Best met Dov's gaze for a moment, and it was obvious that he knew exactly what Dov was thinking about. Then Best glanced over towards Luke, and Luke started walking up to the front of the room.

"Alright," Luke said, "now let's talk about _today. _The past month, Detective Swarek and Detective Nash have been working on a case together," he said, looking at Traci for a moment. "Because Swarek won't be here for a while, I'll be taking over, which means that we're going to be starting from scratch again."

Steve seemed to notice that Traci was giving Luke a slightly annoyed look, and spoke up, also having a problem with the idea of starting from scratch. "Uh, why from scratch?" he interrupted.

Luke looked at Steve for a moment, now giving him a slightly annoyed look, but answered him anyway. "Because," he started, "maybe with a new set of eyes on it, we'll find out something new, and more accurate."

Traci just rolled her eyes, and Steve gave him a condemnatory look, but he didn't say anything more. Luke looked at the two for a moment before continuing with what he was saying.

"Anyway," Luke said, continuing what he had been saying to everyone in the room, "apart from that, most everything is going to stay the same. There _will_ be minor differences, such as me taking over for Swarek while he's gone, Shaw is going to be in some time in the next few days, so someone is going to take over for him as well, and it's the same with Price. As many of you may know, Officer Cruz isn't on active duty at the moment, so we will have someone filling in for her. Apart from that, everything will remain generally the same.

"Also, the main thing that I want to talk about is a newer case that came up," Luke continued, motioning towards pictures that were on the board in the room. "There have been two homicides in the district in the past week. This," he said, pointing at a picture of a brunette who was probably in her early to mid twenties, "is Jessica Halstead. Twenty-two years old, lives alone, and a medical student at the University of Toronto. She was first reported missing five days ago when her friend, Alyssa Roberts, had been waiting for her for half an hour at a local coffee shop. She told us that Jessica is a very punctual person, and that when something ever _did_ happen that caused her to be late or unable to attend a get together, she would always call. Once Alyssa realized that her friend was late, and when Jessica didn't answer the phone after she called multiple times, Alyssa went to the house to see if everything was okay. When she got there, the door was open, there was a broken lamp in the living room, and the water was running in the kitchen sink. She called out for Jessica, but when there was no reply, she contacted the police. We sent a couple officers-" he stopped and glanced towards where Gail and Dov were, "Peck, Epstein, I'm pretty sure it was you- to the scene. Three days later, her body was found abandoned in the woods.

"Our second victim is Alexandra Marks," he said, pointing towards the other girl, who was a brunette that seemed about the same age as Jessica. "She's twenty-four, also lives alone, and works at a nearby daycare. She was first reported missing four days ago when her boyfriend, who was supposed to pick her up one night to go to a movie, noticed that her door was open. He said that Alexandra was always careful to lock the door because they didn't live in a very safe neighborhood, and also that her living room was a mess. That was when Officer Cruz went with Swarek, Nash, and Shaw to the house. Yesterday morning, her body was found in the woods, just like the first victim.

"For now, we are taking into consideration that our killer is a serial killer," he said, looking around the room seriously, "and until we absolutely know for sure whether or not this is, we will treat it as such. So far, there hasn't been a third person reported missing, but we have to be aware of the fact that is is very possible that someone else will be taken. I want every officer who's out on the streets to be looking out for anything suspicious. That means anyone who appears to be picking locks, trying to open people's windows, trying to bust open doors, anything that seems suspicious. Both murders happened near here, which could mean that the next victim, if there is one, will be from around here as well. Alright?"

Everyone in the room nodded, and Luke stepped aside while Best walked back up to the front of the room. He just talked to everyone about the usual stuff; what the day's big plans were at the division, such as traffic duty and anything of the sort, about how there was only one more day left in the shift, and then everyone could go home for a few days to relax. "Alright," he eneded, "serve, protect, and go home once the day is done."

Everyone started to walk out of the room, and then Best called out for Dov, Andy, and Gail. The three walked over to him, listening to whatever he had to say. "Alright," he started, "Dov, I want you on desk duty for the day." Dov nodded, and it was pretty obvious to Gail, Dov, and Andy why Best wanted Dov at the desk. After what happened with Chloe not twenty four hours before, it was probably the smartest decision. "McNally, Peck," he stated, "you two are riding together for the day. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes sir," the both answered at the same time. Best dismissed the three officers after that, and as Dov walked towards the desk, Andy and Gail started walking out to the parking lot to get to the squad car.

"You can drive if you want," Andy said casually to Gail.

"I was going to anyway," Gail replied, putting her bag into the back beside where Andy put hers. Andy just shrugged and walked over towards the passenger's seat. She climbed in, as did Gail on her side, and they pulled out of the parking lot. All that they had been instructed to do was drive around to make sure that everything was in order, which was better than having traffic duty all day.

**Author's Note:**

Hey all. I'm sorry this took me a while to upload. I've been pretty busy with school lately and stuff. Also, I know the chapter isn't very long. Please forgive me. As I've said, I've been packed with projects for school all due the same week, and there were these two really important tests this week, and the finals are soon, as are the ERBs, and my map final for history is huge (we have to lable 160 countries without a word bank) and I need to study, a lot, if I want a really good grade on it. Ha, sorry, I know I drag things on that no one really cares about a lot. Okay, I'm going to be done now, because I should probably get to bed (it's 3:20 AM and I only got 6 hours of sleep last night, the night before, the night before that, and two nights before that, and I had a monster earlier today, so that's keeping me awake, and I should _really_ get to bed now). Okay. Bye! Please leave a review, follow me, or follow my story if you like it. And even if you don't like it, feel free to post a review. I'm always open to comments/critisism.


	3. Chapter 3

Andy and Gail were about an hour into their shift when they turned off of the main street. Andy had suggested that they go to check it out, because it was a pretty empty street, which could be the perfect target for the killer who was on the loose. Gail agreed, and the two drove down the cul-de-sac. It wasn't long at all. There were only about thirty houses on the road, about fifteen on each side, and as the two officers rode at a steady pace by each house, they glanced around it to make sure that nothing seemed out of place. At the very end up the cul-de-sac, a certain house caught Andy's and Gail's eyes.

On the outside, the house seemed perfectly normal, but Andy and Gail could see somewhat into the house, because the curtains at the front, and largest, window were almost completely open. From what they could see, a woman was crying, and there was a man who was yelling at her, his hands in fists. They slowly stopped the car, and looked on for a moment to make sure that they weren't simply misunderstanding the situation. When the man slapped the woman in the face, Andy and Gail immediately jumped out of the car. Andy spoke into her radio that they were responding to what looked like a domestic dispute, and she read off the address to the person on the other end.

When no one answered when Andy and Gail knocked loudly on the door and announced that they were police, they wasted no time, and busted open the locked door. Once they got into the house, the two officers first saw the woman and a boy who looked about eight years old or so cowering in the room. The man took off as soon as he saw the officers, and Andy chased after him while Gail checked on the woman and the boy, who both looked hurt, but not hurt too badly.

"Stop!" Andy called after the man as she ran after him. He turned a corner into a hallway, and Andy did the same, but once she got into the hallway, he had already gone into another room, and she hadn't seen which one room.

She pulled out her taser, just in case, and slowly began making her way down the hallway. There was no way out of the house from the rooms, unless the man were to climb out of a window. Andy glanced into the first of the four rooms in the hallway, and didn't see him anywhere, but just to be safe, she looked a little more. It was a small bedroom, and Andy assumed it belonged to the child who was with the woman, who Andy interpreted to be the mother of the boy, and the wife of the man. She cautiously closed the door once she was sure that the man wasn't in the room, and started towards the second door, which led to a slightly larger room than the other one.

Andy gently turned the knob on the door to the second room, and pushed it open slowly. Because the room was slightly larger than the other one, she had to take a step inside the room to be sure that the man wasn't in there. Just as she took a step into the room, the man jumped out from behind the door and tackled Andy to the ground. Andy hadn't expected him to be in the room, let alone to tackle her, and hit the ground with a thud. He quickly jumped off of her, and as she tried to turn to get up, he kicked her once in the side and once in the stomach to slow her down, then started running out of the room.

Andy winced as she pushed herself up, and she started running out of the room. She saw him running out the back door, and ran after him. The man, who was somewhat portly, wasn't quite as fast a runner as Andy, and she tackled him to the ground in the backyard of the house. He tried to resist, but Andy just held him down.

"Wrong day to piss me off," Andy grunted, pulling out the handcuffs from her belt. The man just scoffed, and gave up trying to resister her, knowing that he had lost. Andy cuffed him, and got him up. They walked around to the front of the house over towards the squad car, and Andy patted down the man to be sure that he wasn't carrying any dangerous objects. Just as she was putting the man into the car, Gail walked out of the house with the woman and the boy. Andy got the guy into the squad car, closed the door, and Gail walked over towards her.

"So?" Andy asked.

"She said it was just a misunderstanding, but the kid told me that his dad," Gail said, motioning towards the man in the car, "hits them a lot. And that he gets angry pretty easily. It's not the first time this has happened. An ambulance is on its way here to make sure they're alright. It should be here in a minute or two."

"Alright," Andy said, glancing towards the wife and son.

After a few minutes, and ambulance arrived at the house, and took the wife and her son to the hospital, so Andy and Gail got into the squad car. "This is ridiculous," the man in the back grumbled, "I didn't do _nothin'."_

"No," Gail said simply, "you _didn't_ do nothing. In fact, you did a lot more than nothing. You hit your wife and eight year old son."

"I did _not," _the man protested bitterly as Gail began driving the car back to the station.

"Uh, yeah, you did," Gail scoffed, "we _saw_ you hit your wife. That's _kind of _the reason we showed up at your house anyway."

The man in the back just rolled his eyes and sighed, quietly mumbling absurdities under his breath. Andy just looked into the rear view mirror and gave him an annoyed look that he wouldn't see, then she looked out the window. Her side and stomach was still hurting from when he kicked her.

When they got back to the station, Andy and Gail brought the man into booking, where another officer booked him. As Andy and Gail walked back to the car, Andy winced a little as she climbed into it.

"You alright?" Gail asked, noticing the grimace on Andy's face.

"Yeah," Andy replied, dismissing the pain.

"You sure?" Gail asked again.

"Yeah," Andy said once again.

"Okay then," Gail shrugged as they pulled out of the station again.

* * *

Traci and Steve were talking in Traci's office, drinking coffee. "I just don't understand why he thinks he can just ignore everything we've done on that case," Traci sighed, "I mean, Swarek and I have been working on that case for a _month_. When we _finally_ think we know who our guy is, Luke decides to start investigating the case all over again. Two days. In _two days_ we were going to bring the guy in for questioning, and now Callaghan thinks he we need to start from the beginning now."_  
_

"It's nonsense," Steve agreed, "you two have been working _really_ hard on that case lately, too. You've each been working late a lot recently on that."

"Yeah," Traci said, raising her voice, "and now that's all for nothing. It just- it _really_ pisses me off." Traci sighed and took a sip from her coffee.

"Is Callaghan going to tell Swarek he's starting from scratch, or his he making _you_ do that?" Steve asked Traci.

Traci sighed miserably. "Something tells me he's going to be making me tell him," Traci replied, "either that, or he's just not going to tell him at all. Either way, Swarek is going to be _so_ pissed off with him for it.

Steve opened his mouth to say something else, then Dov walked into the room. "Traci," he said.

"Yeah?" Traci asked, standing up. She could tell by the urgency in Dov's voice that something was up.

"Another person was just reported missing," Dov said.

"What?" Traci asked, walking over towards Dov. He handed her a sheet of paper, and she looked down at it.

"Susan Todd, a twenty-two year old brunette who was a waitress, was reported missing about an hour ago," Dov explained. "Her boyfriend said that for two days, she didn't answer her phone whenever he called, and she didn't reply to any of his text messages. She didn't show up for work, either, so her boyfriend showed up at her house to make sure that she was alright, and he noticed that the door was unlocked. He went into the house because she didn't answer when he rang the doorbell, and he couldn't find her anywhere. Her phone was on the ground, the TV was on, and her dog was still outside. According to her boyfriend, she never leaves the dog outside when she's gone, she doesn't leave the tv on if she's not watching it, and she always brings her phone with her when she leaves the house."

"Well," Traci sighed, "it looks like we're looking at a serial killer after all."


	4. Chapter 4

"Well that's just great," Luke said angrily when Traci told him what Dov had told her. "Now we have a serial killer to worry about, we need to start on that case you and Swarek have been working on, and we're down four officers right now."

Traci just gave Luke a look that was not only annoyed, but somewhat disbelieving, offended, and also amused. "Well maybe if you didn't make us start over on the case-"

"I told you that if you had a problem with that, you could go talk to Best," Luke said sternly, "I know what I'm doing. I've been a detective longer than you have, Nash."

"You know Traci's kind of right," Steve said, giving Luke a serious look. "It doesn't sound like you even looked much into what she and Swarek found out on their case. You kind of just pushed that all aside."

"I don't need a Guns and Gangs detective telling me how to do my job," Luke defended himself, "alright? You work Guns and Gangs, I work homicide. Unless you want to switch jobs for the day, I recommend we keep it that way. Now why don't you go back upstairs where you belong?"

Steve gave Luke the same look that Traci had given him, and Traci was now glaring at Luke. "I don't know what your problem is," Traci said a moment later, "but we have a serial killer on the loose, and like you said, we're missing four officers, which isn't going to help us catch him any sooner. Can we just get to work?"

Luke held his glare at Steve for a moment, Steve doing the same, then he turned back to his desk. "Yeah," he finally said, "we can get to work."

Luke sat down at his desk, and Steve was still leaning against the wall with Traci. "For your information," Steve said, "Guns and Gangs has worked homicides before." WIth that, Steve walked out of the room, giving Traci a quick glance on his way out.

"Close the door," Luke told Traci, who did as he said. He was looking down at the missing persons report, and then pulled out the reports for the other victims.

"So it looks like he's keeping them all for about three or four days before he kills them," Luke acknowledged seriously.

"Which means that Susan Todd only has another day or two if he sticks to his schedule," Traci mentioned, walking towards Luke to take a look at Susan Todd's report.

"Yeah," Luke said, "if her boyfriend said she hadn't been answering her phone for two days, that seems about right."

"But look at the times of when the first two victims were reported missing, and when they were found," Traci observed. "Jessica Halstead was reported missing one day before Alexandra Marks, and Jessica's body was dumped in the woods the day before Alexandra's was."

"So whoever's doing this kept both girls for about the same amount of time, and he also kept them at the same time for the most part."

"Yeah," Traci nodded, "which means that he might also have another girl, or he's planning on finding another one." 

* * *

"So what's up?" Chris asked Nick as they were driving around.

"Nothing much," Nick replied, looking out the window. He wasn't in much of a mood to talk, or even to be at work, but he had to.

"No," Chris said, "I mean how're you doing? I know you and Andy, you know."

"I'm fine," Nick shrugged, "I mean, I'm obviously not happy about it, but I'll get over it, right?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded, "you will eventually. It'll take some time, but you'll get over it. When I broke up with Denise after finding out that Christian wasn't actually my son and everything, it took a while, but I finally got over it."

"Yeah," Nick nodded, "I just hope it'll happen soon."

"I can't tell you when it'll happen," Chris replied, "but it'll happen."

Nick just nodded, and they were silent for a few seconds, then Nick spoke again. "Has there ever been a relationship between two people from 15 that's actually worked out?" Nick asked, actually smiling a bit. "Because from what I've seen, there hasn't. With anyone."

Chris chuckled a bit, thinking about it. "I don't think," he replied, "I mean, there was me and Gail, and we both know that didn't work out. And then the relationship you had with her didn't work out. Then Sam and Andy didn't work out. Neither did Sam and Cruz's relationship. Chloe and Dov were good, but now, you know. So were Traci and Jerry. You know about Jerry, right?" Nick nodded. "Yeah," Chris continued, "and now Traci and Steve are together, but Steve being Gail's brother and all, you know."

"Yeah," Nick chuckled, "something tells me that something is going to happen with their relationship, considering Steve is Gail's brother."

"Well Gail actually seems pretty cool about," Chris mentioned.

"Yeah," Nick nodded. "So are those the only relationships at 15 that didn't work out, or are there actually more."

"Well there was Callaghan and Andy, but that didn't work out." Chris replied. "Actually, I'm pretty sure that the only relationship at 15 that worked out was Noelle and Best's."

"Yeah," Nick said, "I think you're right."

* * *

"I still don't understand why she lied about her husband," Gail randomly announced while she and Andy were driving around.

"What?" Andy asked, giving Gail a confused look. They'd been riding in silence for at least twenty minutes, so Andy wasn't exactly sure what Gail was talking about.

"The woman," Gail explained, a slightly puzzled and also concerned look on her face, "at the house we were at. She told us it was just a misunderstanding, but it obviously wasn't. He hit her, and her son, a lot, and she told us that it was just a misunderstanding. She was trying to cover up for the guy who abused her and her son."

"Some people just don't realize that once something starts, it'll never stop," Andy replied, "he probably apologized for it afterwards each time he did it. Bought her flowers, took her out for dinner, bought the kid video games or something. Whenever he said it wouldn't happen again, she believed him."

"Yeah," Gail said, "but why? How could you believe someone who already lied to you a dozen times, and someone who hurts your kid?"

"I don't know," Andy replied.

Just then, the radio went off, and a dispatcher started saything that there was a noise complaint at a nearby apartment building.

"10-4," Andy said to the dispatcher, "we're on our way now."

The apartment building was only a few blocks away, so they were there about a minute later. Andy and Gail could hear yelling as soon as they got out of the car. They walked into the building, where the man who had called about the disturbance was waiting for them. He told them that the people were on the second floor, and Andy and Gail began walking upstairs. From what they could hear, it was just a man and a woman yelling at each other. Both Andy and Gail were hoping that it wasn't another domestic dispute, and knocked on the door.

"Police!" Gail yelled loudly. "Open up!"

The yelling stopped, and then the man just yelled back. "We're not doing anything against the law!" the man yelled back.

"Did you not hear her?" Andy yelled, annoyed. "She said open the door!"

The two officers could hear the man sigh as he walked over towards the door, and he unlocked it. Andy and Gail were each slightly relieved that the woman in the room wasn't harmed at all, and that she was just glaring at the man, her arms crossed.

"What?" the man asked, sighing.

"We recieve a noise complaint from one of your neighbors," Gail explained.

"Well it's his fault!" the woman yelled. "He's always playing his music too loud! I tell him to turn the volume down, but no! He just has to keep it up!"

"The report wasn't for music," Andy sighed, "it was for yelling. Lots, and lots of yelling."

"Well he tries to sing to it too!" The woman yelled. "And he knows he can't sing! He just does it to annoy me, I'm sure of it!"

"I do not!" the man defended himself. The woman started yelling at him again, and he yelled back to defend himself.

"Just stop yelling!" Andy yelled, getting annoyed. Both of them stopped, and looked at Andy. "The complaint was about you two arguing. Not music, not horrible singing. You two, yelling."

"Yeah," Gail said, "so unless you want us to take you guys in, you had better quiet down."

"Fine," the man grumbled. Andy and Gail each looked at the woman, waiting for a response.

"Alright," she mumbled.

"Good," Andy said, "so can we go now, or are you two going to start screaming at each other again?"

"We'll stop yelling," the man answered.

"Good," Andy said, turning towards the door, Gail following.

"Are you angry because I forgot to pick you up from the airport?" the man asked his wife as Gail closed the door.

Andy and Gail laughed as they walked down the stairs, thinking of how stupid it was for a guy to forget to pick up their wife from the airport. Andy winced, though, because her stomach was hurting from when the guy from earlier that day kicked her.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Gail asked, concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine," Andy answered.

"You did the same thing when you were getting into the car earlier," Gail tried again, "are you sure?"

"Gail I'm fine," Andy sighed, "the guy from earlier just kicked me in the stomach and side earlier to slow me down. It just hurts a bit. I'm fine Gail, really."

"What?" Gail said, not knowing that Andy had been kicked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it's not that bad, and I'm really not in the mood to talk right now," Andy sighed, "can we please just leave it at that?"

"Alright," Gail said, "but are you sure you're alright? That guy looked pretty strong, and I know he hurt his wife and son a lot."

"I'm fine Gail," Andy repeated, "don't worry about it. I'll be fine by tomorrow. It doesn't even hurt that much."

"Alright," Gail said, giving up. They walked back to the car, got in, and started driving around a bit more.

**A/N:**  
**Hey, sorry, I know it's a pretty short update, and I bet that a lot of you got bored with it. I've been busy today, so I didn't have much time to update. Also, if anyone here likes the show Flashpoint I also have a Flashpoint story that I started on Wattpad, and I have seven chapters posted on here (I'm actually working on the 40th chapter on Wattpad, which has 39 chapters on it). I'll be posting a few chapters of that on each day, so yeah. But the problem is that I started it on December 16, 2013 and my writing isn't as good on there. It improves as you get farther into the story, but in the beginning, it's not great, and Wattpad's spell check is HORRIBLE so there are some typos in it, which I usually try to avoid. Also, it's a pretty, uh, 'grey' story. By that, I mean that it's kind of dark. In other words, it's not a very happy story. Okay, it's not happy story in any way. A lot of stories that I write are this way. I tend to write better if I'm writing something that builds suspense, that also has some sort of 'darkness' in it. I have no idea why. I just do. I tend to be pretty bad at writing things that are happy. Okay, this author's note is way too long. Sorry. Okay, hope you enjoyed this update if you actually didn't get bored to death with it. I bet most of you did, so you won't see this, but oh well.**

**-Comment-Follow-Favorite-**

**~Kelly**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: ****This is gonna be a short chapter, sorry. But that's because I'm studying for my finals and stuff, and my 7th grade class went on a field trip on Friday and later that day we had a project sort of thing due, so I'm busy. And we also had ERB testing this week. And my history final is in 9 days, and we have to lable 160 countries, about 15 bodies of water, and like 7 different landforms, and we don't have a word bank, so I'm studying a ton. But yeah, it'll be short. Just don't hate on me please! I'll try to put up the next chapter later tonight or tomorrow!**

"I am _so_ bored," Sam complained, playing a game a random game that he'd downloaded on his phone to keep himself busy.

"Yeah," Oliver, who had joined Sam around an hour after everyone left, said. "I think I'd rather be doing traffic duty than just sitting here."

"I would for sure," Sam muttered, "it's better than having to be in a hospital bed all week, and then having to be at home, alone, for three weeks."

"Well not _necessarily_ alone," Oliver corrected, "I mean, McNally never said she'd take three weeks to think about it."

Sam had briefly mentioned to Oliver the conversation that he and Andy had earlier that morning while everyone else was asleep. He just rolled his eyes. "Can we not talk about this at the moment?" he grumbled, not wanting to think of the possibility of it taking that long. Yes, he was being honest when he told Andy that he'd wait as long as she needed, but he didn't _want_ it to be that long.

"Yeah, sure," Oliver said, taking a big bite out of the sub he had gotten from the cafeteria, "so what do you _want_ to talk about?"

"I dunno," Sam shrugged, "we've been talking for what, over five hours now? I'm not sure there's much else to talk about."

"Yeah," Oliver agreed, chuckling slightly, "I think we drained ourselves dry on things to talk about. You even voluntarily talked about your feelings towards McNally. Normally I have to pry them out of you."

"Well it got awkward once you started telling me about Celery's newest 'potion'," Sam said, raising his eyebrows jokingly as he took a sip from his coffee. Even though it was almost nine at night, he didn't see a problem with drinking the coffee. He was going to be lying in a hospital bed for a week. There wasn't much more that he had to look forward to other than coffee, TV, or Oliver coming around. Then again, knowing Andy McNally as the 'easily concerned for a hurt friend' person she is, he had a feeling that she'd be showing up too. Even though he knew that she would do that for anyone at the division, he was still looking forward to when she'd show up. There was no doubt in his mind that she would.

"I was _bored, _okay?" Oliver defended himself. "We were running out of things to talk about, so I brought that up."

"Do you even believe in that kind of stuff?"

"Well, uh, I mean, there's a reason to believe in everything. Even atheists have to question at least _once_ in their life if there's a god. And I mean come on, like you've never questioned magic in your life? You know, the whole cutting people half thing."

"Yeah," Sam chuckled lightly, "when I was twelve."

"Come on," Oliver insisted, "cut me some slack. Just because I'm dating a witch it doesn't mean I have to believe in the whole potion thing."

"You never answered my question though."

"Huh, would you look at the time," Oliver said, feigning a yawn, "we've been talking for almost five hours. I think I'm gonna go take a rest. I've already been down here longer than the doctor said I should. You should try and get some sleep too. I'm sure you'd like to be _wide_ awake when McNally's shift is over."

Sam just let out a short, inward laugh at the fact that Oliver was diverting the question again, and he kept a small smile on his face, knowing that it was true that he'd want to be awake whenever Andy's shift was over. "Bye," Sam said as Oliver stood up.

"I will see you later buddy," Oliver said, beginning to walk out the door. Then he turned around. "I'm serious, get some sleep. You were just shot yesterday. You need the rest."

Sam just nodded, and watched as Oliver left the room. He knew that Oliver was correct, too. He was exhausted, he should have tried to get some more sleep _much_ earlier than he was, and it was probably better that he got some sleep while Andy was on shift rather than when she was at the hospital.

He knew that Andy needed time. She needed to think. He understood that, and he respected that, but he still wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. He'd almost lost that. Not just being able to spend the time he _could _with her, but even being able to spend _any_ time with her. He almost died. He knew, now, that he couldn't just take things as slowly as he had, and that he couldn't always just wait. Life was short. He knew that, because he'd almost lost his less than twenty four hours ago.

* * *

Andy put a man into the back of their squad car that she and Gail had arrested, then walked back towards Gail, her jaw clenched in annoyance.

"I cannot believe he threw his drinks at us," Gail complained, starring daggers at the man in the back of their car.

"Yeah," Andy agreed in a short, annoyed scoff.

"At least I got to tase him when he resisted arrest," Gail said, shrugging slightly. "Still doesn't make up for the fact that I smell like I've been swimming in alcohol all day though."

"Yeah," Andy sighed, "the day's just going _great,_ isn't it."

"Yup," Gail said, popping the "p", in an annoyed tone.

"I mean, it's bad enough that Sam and Oliver are hurt, that we still don't know for sure about Chloe, and that some bastard who abuses his wife and kid decided kicked me. But now some asshole is drinking in public, and he decides to drench us in beer because we were going to arrest him?"

Gail gave Andy a slightly concerned look as she heard the angry edge to her tone. "Andy," she asked, "are you okay? You seem a little on edge today. Like, more than you usually are when you're hurt or drenched in someone's drink." Gail understood that Andy was annoyed, considering she'd been hurt and that both of their uniforms were wet with beer, but it wasn't like Andy to get so angry over things like just getting a little bit hurt, or getting wet because someone they were arresting decided to toss a drink at them.

"I'm fine, Gail," Andy replied, still a little tense, "I'm just- I'm worried about Chloe, and there are four less people today than there were yesterday, which means that we have to cover a bigger area than usual, it still hurts a bit from when that guy kicked me, I am _covered_ in beer, and I'm just- I'm a little stressed out, Gail."

"Well I get that," Gail acknowledged, "but it seems like there's more to it than that. I mean, even before we had beer thrown all over us, you seemed a little on edge."

"Look, I'm just a little stressed. That's all," Andy said.

"Well, let's get un-stressed then," Gail reasoned, "we only have what, four hours left in the shift? Then we get the week off, and you won't have to worry about having four less people around the division, covering a larger area, or getting kicked and soaked in beer."

"Yeah," Andy sighed, "I guess you're right. Let's just get him down to booking and hope nothing else goes wrong."

The two walked back to the squad car, and Gail sent the guy one last furious glare before she climbed in. "I was planning on getting a shower after the shift anyway," she grumbled.

* * *

"I not _drunk!_"

"Yeah," Gail scoffed, yanking the man back by his arm as he tried to pull away, "and you _also_ didn't get us covered in beer." Gail and Andy entered the booking room, Gail keeping a firm grip on the man's arm.

"You were gonna shoot!" the man yelled, slurring his words.

The officer who was in booking, Alex Neil, looked up from the desk as the two officers brought the man into the room. _John Doe, _Gail mouthed. Alex nodded.

"We weren't going to shoot," Andy sighed, beginning to get a headache from the man's constant yelling.

The man was about to say something else, but Gale sent him a sharp and abrupt glare, and he just grumbled absurdities under his breath.

Once again, the man struggled to free himself from Gail's grip, and Gail pulled at his arm again. "Do you _want_ to be tased?" Gail warned, annoyed. The man stopped struggling, obviously not wanting to be tased again, but he still mumbled numerous insults towards the female officers under his breath.

"McNally, Peck," Staff Sergeant Best called from outside the door. Both officers looked at him immediately. "Parade room. Now."

Andy and Gail nodded, and Alex stood up and walked over to Gail to take the man off her hands.

"I'm going to hand you over to Officer Neil," Gail said to the man, who was scowling at Alex, "and he's going to lock you up in that jail cell, and you're going to tell him your name unless you want to be stuck here all day."

Alex took the man by his arm, and Gail and Andy started out the door. He struggled to get out of Alex's grip now, but Alex pulled him back. "Bitch!" the man yelled at Gail.

"You know, I still have a taser," Gail said, turning and pointing at the taser on her belt. Once again, the man stopped trying to get away, and rolled his eyes miserably.

Andy and Gail walked out of the booking room and towards the parade room, relieved that they no longer had to deal with the drunk man, but still knowing that they were walking around the station, wet and smelling like beer.

When the two entered the parade room, everyone else was already in there, and they sat down at the table towards the back of the room. Chris, who was sitting at the table a few feet away from theirs, opened his mouth to ask why they were wet and reeked of alcohol, but Andy held up a hand to silence him. "Don't even ask," she sighed, shaking her head, not wanting to talk about what happened.

Chris was still a little curious, but he just nodded and looked toward the front of the room, where Best was walking up to the center to speak.

"15," he began, capturing everyone's attention, "it looks as though we have a serial killer on the loose, and whoever he is, he is moving _fast._ Callaghan and Nash are going to fill you in on the details, but first, I'd like to say one thing. We are four people down, one of which is the detective who would have been working this case. We need every officer alert of any suspicious behavior that matches our killer's MO, and if anything seems out of place that might have anything to do with our killer, it will be radioed in." Everyone nodded, and Best stepped away for Luke and Traci to walk up.

"Susan Todd, another girl who matches our killer's victimology, was reported missing today," Luke announced, "and it looks like she's been missing for about two days, which means that she only has about that long until she's killed." Everyone looked at him seriously. He began to fill in everyone in the room about the serial killings, saying that the killer's victimology was women in their twenties with brown hair, who lived alone. More information, such as approximately how long they'd each been held for and when they were killed, was given by Traci. Luke mentioned that there was most likely another girl who was going to go missing soon, if she hadn't already been taken, and everyone listened intently. Whoever the killer was, they were moving fast, and they weren't leaving any revealing evidence where the girls were dumped.


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't like the odds," Andy said, breaking the silence that had set in the squad car. It had been ten minutes since the meeting in the parade room, and Best sent out all of the officers who were available to patrol.

"The odds?" Gail asked, sending Andy a slightly confused look. "What do you mean?"

"The odds of this guy being found before he kills someone else," Andy replied quietly, thinking. Two days. Two days until the most recent victim is killed. And now, the perp who was killing them was either hunting for another victim, or he'd already gotten one, and the division hadn't yet been informed.

Gail just nodded, bitting her bottom lip. She had been thinking the same thing as Andy. The odds were low. They didn't have anything on the guy yet. All they knew was that he was going after women in their twenties who had brown hair, and that all the girls who were taken lived alone. They didn't know what he looked like, didn't know what his name was, and didn't have any evidence that could help them figure out anything about him.

"What does Best even expect us to do to catch this guy?" Andy continued. "Drive around and hope that we see someone dragging a brunette in her twenties out of a house?"

"Well it's better than not doing anything," Gail replied.

"I know," Andy sighed, "but still. There has to be something else that can be done to find this guy, right?"

"Not until an autopsy's done on the girls who were killed," Gail answered, "and then we can only _hope_ that something shows up from that to help the case get solved."

"How long do you think it'll be until an autopsy's done one each one of them?"

"Not until tomorrow, probably," Gail replied, "or the next day. And we're off shift then too, so there's not really much we can do."

"At least Luke's working the case," Andy said, "he's working while we're off, so he'll be able to work on it while we can't."

"Yeah," Gail sighed.

Andy and Gail rode for about an hour, then something caught their eye, and the each sighed as they pulled the car to a stop. They eyed two boys who were screaming at each other, and their hands were clenched into fists. "Please don't get violent," Gail groaned tiredly, not wanting to have to get out of the car to arrest a third person that day. So far, they had no reason to interfere. For all they knew, the two boys were friends who were angry at each other, so they were resorted to yelling at each other.

One of the boys, who was white, had brown spiked hair, and looked about sixteen seemed to be getting angrier, and Andy and Gail watched closely. He took a step towards the other kid, who was a black kid who looked about twelve. For about twenty seconds, they were just screaming at each other, then the younger of the two turned around like he was fed up with the argument, and began to walk away. Andy and Gail each got a little less tense, thinking the situation was over, then the older boy walked after him, leaving behind what appeared to be his bike and backpack.

The older boy caught up with the other one, and grabbed him by the shoulder to turn him around. The younger one pushed the older one away in defense, and Andy and Gail sensed that the situation was going to get violent, so they stepped out of the car. Just as they stepped out, the older one pulled a knife from his pocket and went to stab the younger one. Andy saw the younger one fall to the ground, and she immediately started to run towards him as Gail went after the kid with the knife.

"Drop the knife!" Gail yelled. The teenager spun around to look at her, eyes wide in fright but also anger, and didn't listen. Instead, he just started running away, knife still in hand. As Gail went after him Andy hurried to the injured kid.

When Andy got to the boy she looked at his side, which was bleeding. The kid was wincing in pain, and he was clenching his jaw from the pain. He had a hand over the wound, and another was clenched into a tight fist.

"We've got a 10-33 on Crawford and Barton," she said into her radio as she pulled out a wash cloth from her belt that was there to be used for such situations as this. She put it over the wound to prevent any infection, and tried to apply pressure to the wound so the boy didn't bleed out. "We need an ambulance immediately."

"Copy that," the dispatcher replied as Andy pulled out a wash cloth from her belt that was there to be used for such situations as this. She pushed down on the wound, and looked at the boy's face. He was looking at her with a pained and worried expression on his face.

"My name's Andy," Andy said to him, trying to keep him talking, "can you tell me yours?" She continued to push down on the wound, and he nodded.

"James," he replied, his voice showing that he was obviously in pain. "James Duncan."

"Okay James," Andy said, looking into his eyes, "an ambulance is on its ways. It'll be here soon. Alright?"

James nodded.

"So how old are you James?" Andy asked. She had to keep him talking, otherwise he'd be more likely to lose consciousness. He was still bleeding out a lot, and Andy was worried that the knife had penetrated an organ, which would lower his chances of survival.

"Twelve," he replied through clenched teeth. Andy pushed down harder, trying to stop so much blood from seeping out, and James hissed in pain, wincing more.

"I'm sorry James," Andy apologized, "but I have to keep pressure on it, okay?"

"Yeah," James nodded, taking deep breaths to calm himself down, "I get it."

"Okay," Andy said, glancing down at the wound quickly before meeting his gaze again, "you're doing great, James. The ambulance is going to be here soon, I promise."

"I didn't do nothin'," James said, sounding like he was ready to cry, "I swear, I was just tryin' to get him away from me, and he stabbed me."

"I know, James," Andy nodded, "I know. I saw it. Don't worry. You're not in trouble."

"I can't go to jail," James continued, as if he didn't hear what Andy said, "I can't."

"You're not going to jail," Andy reassured him, still keeping pressure on the wound on his side, "don't worry, James. You're going to the hospital, and once the doctors get you all fixed up, you can go home."

James just shook his head, and Andy heard ambulance sirens, and knew it would only be a matter of seconds before the paramedics got there and took over. "James," Andy tried again, "you're not going to jail, okay?" James nodded, and Andy felt a little better now that he didn't think he was going to go to jail.

"Hey James," Andy said, trying to keep him talking until the medics actually got there, "do you remember my name?"

"Andy," James said. He seemed to be losing strength, and Andy glanced down the road where the ambulance was speeding towards them.

"Yeah," Andy nodded, "yeah, that's right."

"You smell like beer," James said, giving Andy a slightly confused expression.

Andy couldn't help but smile and let out a short chuckle at the question. "Long story," she said, grinning slightly.

The ambulance stopped just near them. "Okay James," Andy said, "the paramedics are here. They're gonna take you now, okay?"

"No," he said, shaking his head slightly as two paramedics took over, "you can't leave."

"James," Andy said, "right now, these guys can help you more than I can, but I'm going with you to the hospital, okay?" James nodded, and as the paramedics got him ready to get him into the ambulance, Andy glanced back towards where Gail had gone after the other guy. She was walking along side him, and he had his hands cuffed behind his back.

"I'm gonna go with him," Andy said as the medics got James into the ambulance, "to take his statement and everything. Think you can get him to the station?"

"Yeah," Gail nodded, "go 'head. I'm fine."

"Thanks," Andy said, jumping into the back of the ambulance. One of the medics closed the doors and got into the front of the ambulance to drive, while the other was taking care of James.

For a few minutes, the paramedic took care of James, then he started wrapping a bandage over the wound. "Do you think he's gonna be alright?" Andy whispered to the medic.

"It's too soon to tell," the paramedic replied quietly so that James couldn't hear him. "He needs to get into surgery right away. It looks like the knife hit his spleen, which explains a lot of the blood loss. I gave him morphine, so he shouldn't be in pain right now." Andy bit her bottom lip and nodded. She had a hard enough week, from having to cover up for Marlo, to the whole thing with Kevin Ford shooting Chloe, taking Oliver, and then shooting Sam, who had professed his love for Andy just minutes before he was shot, to getting kicked, and then to getting soaked in beer. She did _not_ want to have a twelve year old's death on her conscience. Not ever, and definitely not after already having such a rough week.

James looked up at Andy with a tired and also worried look in his eyes. "James, you hang in there," she told him with an assertive yet also soft tone. James' eyelids just began to droop, and Andy tried again. "Come on James," she urged, "we're almost there. You just need to stay awake."

James didn't respond, and then he closed his eyes fully, just as the ambulance was pulling up to the emergency entrance at the hospital. The medics got him out, and a few doctors took over, quickly taking him towards the room to get surgery done. Andy knew she couldn't follow, so she turned to the medic who had been in the back with her. "What do you think his chances are?" she asked, worried that the boy wasn't going to make it. He was only twelve. He didn't deserve to die.

"Low," the medic admitted, "but I can't say he has none. I've seen miracles performed at this hospital, and I've gotta say, hope can sometimes be the best medicine in situations like this."

Andy bit her lip. _I think I used up all my hope last night,_ she thought to herself. She nodded, though, but stayed standing there, looking at the doors that the doctors had wheeled James' stretcher through.

"Hey," the medic said, getting her attention back, "have we met?"

She now turned to face the man, who had short brown hair and deep blue eyes. She recognized him after a short moment, and nodded. "Yeah," she answered, "yeah, we sort of met last night. We didn't talk to each other or anything though."

"Yeah," he nodded, "I thought that's what I remembered you from. One of the detectives at your division was shot, right?" Andy nodded, but didn't say anything. "So is he alright?"

"Yeah," Andy sighed, "he's fine."

"That's good," the medic remarked.

"Yeah," Andy sighed, "I guess so."

"My name's Brian, by the way," the man said, holding out a hand as he gave Andy a small smile.

"Andy," Andy said, shaking his hand. She gave him a small smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. She wasn't in much of a mood to talk to anyone, but she still wanted to be friendly. "Look, I have to go. It was nice meeting you Brian."

"You too," he said, giving Andy another quick smile, "maybe I'll see you again?"

"Yeah, maybe," Andy replied, even though she couldn't think of a reason to see him again, unless she, someone she cared about, or an injured victim of a crime was hurt. "Bye."

"Bye Andy," Brian grinned, giving her a short wave as he walked to the passenger seat of the car while she began walking towards the doors into the hospital.

Andy sighed as she walked into the hospital. Brian seemed nice, she guessed, but she was stressed, so she didn't really want to talk to him in the first place. She walked up to the nurse at the reception desk. "That kid who was just brought in," Andy started, "how long do you think he'll be in surgery?"

"The John Doe?" The nurse asked.

"Yeah, him." Andy nodded, remembering that the hospital didn't have his name yet. "His name's James Duncan, by the way. So how long?"

"It's too soon to tell," the nurse replied grimly, "at least a few hours. But I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Alright," Andy said, "thanks." Andy gave the nurse her cell number so that she could call when she needed to, then turned away from the desk. Andy thought about just sitting down to wait until James was out of surgery, if he got out of surgery, but then she ended up walking over to the elevator, and went up to the floor that Sam was on. She had been planning on visiting Sam after her shift was over, but she figured that if James made it, the shift wasn't going to be over for another few hours. She had to stay until James was either taken out of surgery or declared, and even though her shift would be longer than planned, she didn't want him to be declared.

As she walked towards Sam's room, she wondered if he'd even be awake, and she hoped he would. A majority of the reason that she was visiting Sam wasn't because she'd been planning on visiting him, even though she was going to anyway. She needed somebody to talk to. Normally, she could contain her emotions when something like what happened with James happened, even when the victim wasn't even a teenager, but she'd had a stressful week. Even as she just walked towards Sam's room, she could feel the tears that wanted to escape from her eyes, but she wouldn't let them.

Andy entered Sam's room, and was disappointed to see that he was asleep, but she sat down on the chair near his bed anyway. Even though he was asleep and couldn't talk to her, his presence was still somewhat comforting. It didn't take away much of her stress, worry, or sadness at all, but knowing that he was there with her still helped.

Andy rested her head in her hands with her elbows on her knees, which were a shoulder's length apart. She let out a shaky sigh, and bit her bottom lip tightly to prevent it from quivering. She couldn't cry. She wouldn't. James wasn't even dead yet. He might not even die. She _couldn't_ start crying.

Then her side, which had been hurting ever since she was kicked, began hurting a little worse, and she thought about everything that had happened the past twenty four hours, and her emotions got a hold of her. No one knew if Chloe, who Andy had been walking with and talking to when she was shot in the neck, was going to make it. She had been worried about Oliver the day before, because he was taken by Kevin Ford, and almost killed. Sam was shot, which scared her so badly the day before. She was in pain from being kicked. To add to all the other horrible things that happened that week, someone decided to douse her with beer, and now she was worried that James, a twelve year old boy who was stabbed while she was just across the street from him, wasn't going to make it. The guilt that she felt for what happened with Chloe, for what happened with Sam, and now for what happened to James hit her all at once, and she let out a short cry.

As soon as the sound escaped her, she held back the rest of the cries that were straining to free themselves from within her. Although the single, short cry was quiet, it managed to wake Sam up. Sam slowly opened his eyes, not quite sure of what the noise was or who it came from, and saw Andy sitting on the chair near his bed, her head in her hands. Then he saw the blood on her hands, and realized that the sound was her, about ready to cry._  
_

Seeing the blood on her hands fully woke up Sam, and he looked at her worriedly. "Andy," he said, slight fear obvious in his voice. She looked up at him without saying anything, and there were so many different emotions apparent in her eyes, none of them good. "McNally, what happened?" he asked, the overprotective friend, colleague, and police officer inside him coming out. "Are you hurt?" There was some blood on her uniform as well, along with some on part of her face. He wasn't sure if the blood on her face was because her face had been resting in her hands, but he wouldn't just let himself think that it was nothing. She was hurt, and that was all that mattered. It didn't matter where she was hurt. It just mattered that she was hurt, and she needed help.

Although Andy was slightly surprised that Sam woke up, it didn't show. All she could think was that everything that happened the past two days was her fault, and now two of the people that she felt guilty for being hurt might die. When she heard the concern and also fear in Sam's tone, and saw the worry in his eyes, she wasn't sure why he seemed somewhat scared, until she realized that there was blood on her hands.

"Shit," she cursed silently, her sadness growing. She had James' blood on her hands. Literally.

"McNally, what happened? Are you hurt?" Sam asked again. His voice was stern as he tried to cover up the fear that was previously in his voice, and he was worried that Andy was badly hurt because of the blood and the look in her eyes.

Andy just shook her head and took in a deep, shaky breath, then let it out just as shaky.

"McNally," Sam insisted, his voice more stern than he intended, and also sounding somewhat angry, because he was worried.

"It's not mine," she finally affirmed, although her voice was still filled with sadness. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears, and Sam immediately regretted any harshness that he had shown in his voice, even though it was only there because he was concerned for Andy.

"Andy," Sam said in a much softer, quiet, and also sad voice. He looked at her with a sympathetic look in his eyes, and also some concern for her emotional state now rather than her physical one. He felt bad, now, for being so stern when he asked her if she was alright. He knew right away that someone had been hurt or killed, and that she felt guilty for whatever happened. One thing that was almost as bad as getting badly hurt was probably having someone get badly hurt, or even killed, and feeling that you could have prevented it. For Andy, that might be _worse_ than getting badly hurt, and Sam knew that.

Andy just looked at him sadly again, the mix of unhappy emotions obvious in her eyes. "Andy, what happened?" he asked softly, no longer wanting an answer because he was worried that something was wrong, but because he knew that he needed to comfort her somehow.

"He's only twelve," Andy replied, a haunted look in her eyes as she thought about everything that happened.

"Who's only twelve?"

"James," Andy replied, thinking about what had happened, "this boy who was stabbed. Gail and I were patrolling, and we saw these two kids yelling at each other. One of them looked about sixteen, and the other one, James, is only twelve. James turned to walk away, and the other one walked after him and spun him around. Then Gail and I were getting out of the car because it looked like someone was going to get hurt, but we were too late. The older kid just pulled out a knife and stabbed him. Gail went after the kid, and I ran over to James to try and help him, but he was- he was stabbed in the spleen, and he lost a lot of blood, and they said he's probably not going to make it." Andy stopped, biting her top lip. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't.

Sam just looked at her pitifully. It hurt to see her so upset, and he looked at her sadly. "Andy," he intoned, "it's not your fault."

Andy shook her head. "It is. I shouldn't have waited for the older one to walk after him. I should've just walked up there and told them to stop before it got serious."

"And done what?" Sam sighed. "Told them to stop yelling at each other? Andy, you couldn't have known one of them had a knife."

"Yes!" Andy said, her eyes watery. "If I just told them to stop-"

"Andy, your job isn't to stop people from yelling at each other," Sam said, "you couldn't have known that one of them was going to stab the other."

"But if I'd just told them to calm down before he stabbed him, none of this would've happened. Instead, I waited for the older kid to go after James. If I just got out of the car while they were yelling at each other, a twelve year old boy wouldn't be so close to dying right now."

"You don't know that, Andy. The other kid, he could've hurt James when you and Gail left. If he did that, you wouldn't have been there to help him."

Andy shook her head and looked down at her hands, and her sadness grew. "It's my fault," Andy said in a worried voice, "it's my fault. If I had just gotten out of that _damn_ car, this wouldn't have happened."

"Andy," Sam said.

Andy just kept talking, as if Sam's words went in one ear and out the other. "He wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for me. He wouldn't." She was still looking down at her hands, feeling completely guilty.

"Andy," Sam said, louder.

"I should've gotten out of the car. I should've told them to stop fighting. He shouldn't have gotten hurt, but because of me, he did."

"Andy!" Sam said loudly and somewhat sternly.

Andy's head snapped right up, and she stared into Sam's eyes. Sam, now having Andy's full attention, sighed as he looked at her. She was blaming herself for something that wasn't her fault. She was upset, scared, and felt guilty. He hated to see her so upset, and it broke his heart. "Go wash your hands," he said, softer now that he had her attention, "get a drink, and then come back here. Then we can talk."

Andy nodded, then sighed as she stood up. She left the room without saying anything other than 'okay' to Sam, and Sam watched her she left. Andy walked down the hallway to the bathroom, and once she got in there, she looked into the mirror. There was some blood on her face from having her head in her hands while she was in Sam's room, and her hands were still covered in blood. There was also some blood on her uniform.

She turned on the sink and began running warm water, and stuck her hands under it. The blood, which had dried on her hands, wasn't coming off easily, and Andy let out a shuddering breath. It was just too much to handle in one day. To much in one week.

When hardly any of the blood came off of her hands, Andy pulled out another cloth that was in her belt. She scrubbed her hands with the cloth as hard as she could, and still, hardly any of the blood came off. Andy couldn't contain her emotions much longer. Sam almost died the day before. Chloe almost died the day before. Oliver could have also died the day before. She broke up with Nick, and wasn't even sure if she and Sam would be able to start a relationship that actually lasted. Her side was killing her, and she had a twelve year old's blood all over her hands, on her uniform, and now on her face.

Andy broke down, and tears began to escape her eyes. It was too much. Too much in one week, let alone one day. She scrubbed her hands with the cloth as hard as she could, and let the water run as hot as it could. She hardly felt any pain as the hot water poured onto her hands. It could've been hotter, had it not been a hospital bathroom, and she would hardly even notice it. Too many thoughts were running through her head to concentrate on pain. She could barely even think about the pain in her side. She just kept scrubbing the blood off of her hands forcefully as tears ran down her cheeks. She had to get it off. She had to. After a while she got all of the blood off of her hands, and off of her face, which was easier than her hands because there wasn't much blood on it at all.. There was nothing she could do about her uniform until she got back the the station, and even though she hated to do so, she did nothing with it. She just kept it on. Andy just stood in the empty bathroom for a while until she calmed herself down. She wasn't going to walk back to Sam's room crying. She just wasn't.

Andy left the bathroom, and started back towards the waiting area at the emergency entrance to get a bottle of water from the vending machine. She got the water, and found herself walking back towards the reception desk.

"Did anything change?" she asked the nurse.

"Not yet," the nurse sighed grimly, "and we're still trying to find his next-of-kin."

"Okay, thanks"

Andy walked back to Sam's room, taking a sip from the water bottle before she entered. Sam was staring at the entrance to the doorway when she walked in, like he'd been waiting for her. Sam could tell by looking at her that she'd been crying, but he didn't say anything about it. It wouldn't help the situation.

"Feeling any better?" Sam asked.

Andy just sighed as she walked towards her chair. "A little, I guess," she nodded.

"Andy, it's not your fault," Sam reassured her in a soft, somewhat comforting tone. "Don't think it is."

"I know," Andy sighed, "it's just, this past week's been really, really stressful, especially the past two days, and this is just making everything worse."

"You wanna talk about it?" Sam asked.

"There's not really anything to tell you that you don't already know."

"You smell like beer," Sam said, grinning a bit, "there has to be _something _to tell."

"Nothing good," Andy said, sitting back in her chair, sighing.

"Well then tell me something that's not good," Sam replied simply. "What's all happened today?"

Andy sighed. "Everything."

"Okay, then talk me through it all. Starting from the first bad thing that happened today."

"Well we were four people down today," Andy explained, "which makes everything harder. Because you're not around, Luke's taking your place. You know those two women who were killed?" Sam nodded, listening. "Well someone else was reported missing today, but she was taken about two days ago, which means she only has about another day now until he kills her, and it looks like he probably took someone else today.

"And as if being four people short today wasn't enough, Gail and I had to stop at this one house because a dad was abusing his wife and his kid. So we went in, he started running, so I had to go after him. When I finally got him we brought him back to the station." Andy left out the part about getting kicked, knowing that Sam would start worrying that she was hurt. "Then a little later Gail and I went out and this guy was drinking in public. He was pretty out of it, so Gail and I were going to arrest him, then he three the drinks at us-"

"That explains the smell," Sam interrupted.

"Yeah," Andy nodded, "so he threw the drinks at us, and Gail and I got him to the station, and then Best called us into parade. That's when Luke and Traci started telling us that the person who killed those two women is a serial killer. So Best sends a bunch of us out to patrol in case anyone sees anything suspicious, you know, because if the guy sticks to his schedule he'd be looking for someone else today. And then about an hour, an hour and half into the ride, the whole thing with James happened."

Sam nodded, sighing lightly. "That _would _be pretty stressful."

"Yeah," Andy sighed, "but I mean, that's not all. After everything yesterday, it just made the day stressful without any of that happening. I mean, you, Oliver, and Chloe are here, Marlo's gone, and everyone's really worried about Chloe, especially me, because I was there when it happened. I was _right_ there. Chloe was _talking_ to me when he shot her, and I didn't even know she was shot, and I didn't even know that she'd been shot. And then when I turned around to ask her if she heard it, I saw her neck, bleeding, and I just froze. She was shot in the neck, and I just _froze._"

"Andy, you can't blame what happened to Chloe on yourself," Sam said.

"Sam I was right next to her," Andy said, shaking her head.

"Andy," Sam tried again, "Chloe would've gotten shot if it was Oliver with her, or Dov, or Chris, or Gail, or anybody. There is _nothing_ that you could have prevented from happening. In fact, Andy, if you _weren't _there, she could be dead right now. You got her to safety, and you called it in, and you helped save her life. That's the only thing that actually happened _because_ of you."

Andy just looked at him, a questioning look in her still watery eyes. "I mean it," Sam reassured her, "you did _nothing_ wrong yesterday."

Andy just sighed and leaned back on the chair. "This has been a _long_ week," she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.

"You wanna call in to the station?" Sam asked. "Let Best know the kid's still in surgery. Maybe he can send in someone else to wait to take his statement. After everything that's happened, I don't think you need to be working overtime."

"I can deal with it," Andy replied, shaking her head as she kept her eyes closed, "it's not like I've never worked overtime before."

"Well the other times were different," Sam commented.

"It's fine, Sam," Andy assured him, "I just need to wait for him to get out of surgery, if he does, and then I'll take his statement once he wakes up, then I'll get back to the station, change into clothes that aren't soaked in beer and blood, and then I won't have to work for another week."

"And that'll be when," Sam remarked, "ten hours from now?"

"Sam I'm fine," Andy said, opening her eyes and standing up, "I'm gonna go check on Chloe, though. See how she's doing."

"Alright McNally," Sam said, "you go do that. Just promise me you'll call Best when you need to. He'll understand." Sam was giving her a serious look, and she nodded.

"I will."

Andy left the room, and started walking down the hallway towards Chloe's room. When she got there, she was surprised to see Dov standing outside of the room, not in uniform.

"Hey," Andy said, "did Best let you out early?"

"No," Dov replied, giving her a curious look, "our shift ended about thirty minutes ago."

"What?" Andy said, pulling out her phone. "I wasn't even here that-" she stopped herself, seeing the time on her phone. Dov was right. She'd been at the hospital for at least two hours. It was ten o'clock. "Oh."

"Andy?" Gail's voice sounded from the other end of the hallway. "Please tell me you're here to see Sam, Chloe, and Oliver and nothing else."

Andy turned to face Gail, who was walking towards her. "I still need to get the kid's statement when and if he gets out of surgery," Andy sighed, leaning against the wall.

"Andy," Gail said, feeling bad for Andy, "you don't need to stay here. Someone can take over." She knew that Andy had a rough time the past two days, and she also knew that Andy was probably exhausted after having to deal with so much.

"I'm fine," Andy said, shaking her head.

"Andy," Dov said, "I'm sure Best wouldn't mind. In fact, he'd probably rather have you end your shift now rather than doing overtime to take this kid's statement."

"Did Chloe wake up yet?" Andy asked, ignoring Dov.

"Yeah," Dov sighed, "a few minutes ago. She wanted to talk to Wes first though." Even though his voice hid it, Andy could see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Hey," she said, "I'm sure she just wants to tell him to get out of here."

"I don't know," Dov shrugged, frowning, "she asked to talk to him first. Who knows, maybe she still has feelings for him. I mean, they got married. Even if she left him, she never got a divorce. That has to show _something._ Maybe he means more to her than I do."

"Hey," Andy said, nudging him lightly in the shoulder, "when she was shot, you were the _only_ person she mentioned. Not Wes."

Dov just shrugged. "I'm gonna go get a drink," he said, turning to walk down the hallway.

Once Dov was out of sight, Gail leaned against the wall across from Andy. "How's your side?"

"Hurts," Andy said, rolling her eyes a little, annoyed with the pain in her side, "but it'll be fine."

"You sure?" Gail asked.

"Yeah, it's no big deal."

"Alright," Gail said, still not completely sure if Andy was just under exaggerating how she actually felt or not. She didn't push it, however, knowing that it would only make Andy more stressed than she already was. "Why don't you go back to Sam. I can come tell you when Chloe's ready ready to talk to anyone other than Wes and Dov."

"Alright," Andy said, straightening herself up. "Thanks Gail."

"Yep."

Andy walked back to Sam's room, still surprised at how long she'd been at the hospital. Her conversation with Sam couldn't have been _that_ long. The only other thing she could think of that could have been a reason for her being there for so long without noticing was her cleaning the blood off of her hands and face. How long had she been in there? More importantly, how long had Sam been sitting there, staring at the door, waiting for her?

"Hey," Sam said as Andy walked back into the room. She had an expression on her face as though she was thinking, and in deep thought.

"How long was I in the bathroom earlier?" Andy asked as soon as she got fully into the room. She wasn't looking at Sam. She was just staring straight ahead, as if in thought.

Sam looked at her and sighed, not sure whether he should give her an honest answer or not. "Why?" he asked instead, another pitiful look on his face.

"Because I've been here for a little over two hours," Andy explained, still not meeting Sam's gaze with her own, "and we weren't even talking to each other that long."

"Andy," Sam said, still not giving her an answer. He didn't want to see her upset again.

"How long, Sam?" Andy asked him again.

"A little over an hour," Sam answered, sighing.

"And you were just sitting there, waiting, the enitre time?" She met his eye contact now, a sad look in her eyes.

Sam didn't reply, but he looked at Andy with the same pitiful expression in his eyes that he'd been giving her since she got there. Not getting a reply answered Andy's question. He did. He waited for her for over an hour, staring at the door, and he didn't even say anything about it. He didn't complain. He didn't ask her where she'd been, or why she'd taken so long. All he did was ask if she was feeling any better, without bringing up the fact that she'd left him alone in the room for over an hour.

"Thank you," Andy said, walking over to the side of Sam's bed. When she'd come to Sam's room after she first got to the hospital, she'd been looking for someone who'd listen to her. For someone who would be perfectly okay with her talking, and practically ranting, about how she felt. For someone who wouldn't complain about her talking about most of the stuff that was bothering her. And that's what she got in coming to Sam. He didn't complain, he didn't ignore her, and even if he wasn't _perfectly_ okay with her talking, he didn't say anything about it. She actually felt kind of bad about making him wait for so long, and for complaining about her day while he was lying on a hospital bed because he'd been shot the day before.

"For what?" Sam asked, a little confused. He'd expected her to get upset again, but instead she was thanking him.

"For listening," Andy said. She was frowning slightly, but it was more so from the pain in her side, how tired she was, and the fact that she felt kind of bad about the fact that she'd made Sam listen to her for so long, and that she'd made him wait for her for even longer.

Sam could see the somewhat apologetic look in her eyes, and could tell that she felt bad about making him wait for so long, even though he didn't mind at all. "Any time, McNally," Sam said, giving her a warm smile. He reached out and grabbed her hand in his, giving it a small, reassuring squeeze. "Really. Any time you need to talk, I'm here."

"Thanks," Andy said, feeling a little better. She gave him a small smile, grateful that he didn't mind her talking or her making him wait for so long.

Sam released his hold on her hand, still smiling softly, so Andy could sit down. He was glad to see her smile, considering that he hadn't seen her smile at all since she brought in James. His smile faded, however, when he saw her grimace when she began to sit down. Andy let out a quiet grunt, and Sam looked at her, alarmed.

"Hey," he said, worried, "are you okay? Andy?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Andy dismissed. She let out her breath, sitting back in the chair, and closed her eyes, putting a hand over her side. Sam's expression didn't change.

"McNally," he said, not about to let her tell him nothing was wrong, "what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Andy said, shaking her head.

"McNally, tell me what's going on right now, or I'm calling in the doctor to tell him you're hurt," Sam warned, not joking.

"It's nothing Sam," Andy sighed, opening her eyes to look at him, "that guy I arrested today for abusing his wife and kid just kicked me in the side earlier. It's not a big deal."

"Andy," Sam said, annoyed with her stubbornness.

"Sam I'm fine."

"Andy."

"Sam, I'm _fine._"_  
_

_"Andy._"

"Sam-"

"Andy!"

"What?" Andy said somewhat loudly, annoyed that Sam was making such a big deal out of the fact that she was hurt.

"If you are hurt," Sam said in a calmer voice now that Andy was listening, speaking slowly so that Andy would hear everything that he said, "then you are not fine."

"Sam," Andy sighed. She didn't finish the sentence, though, because she knew that Sam was right. It wasn't like being kicked had done anything that bad, but it certainly hurt a lot, so she wasn't fine.

"How much does it hurt?" Sam asked. "Scale of one to ten."

Andy shrugged, glancing to the side of the room as she thought about it. "Six," she answered, "maybe seven."

"Okay," Sam said, "you need to get a doctor to look and see if you're okay-"

"Sam, it'll be fine by tomorrow," Andy assured him, "I don't need a doctor to look at it."

"But what if you do?" Sam said, not believing Andy. She's the kind of person to hide how much something actually hurt her, especially when the person she's talking to about it is lying in a hospital bed.

"I don't."

"You might."

"I don't."

"A doctor could help."

"But I don't need help."

"You could."

"But I don't."

"Fine, then I'll call the doctor in," Sam warned again, moving his hand towards the button on the side of his bed that, when hit, would call a doctor into the room.

"Uh, no, you won't," Andy said, pushing his hand away.

"Andy," Sam said, "just let a doctor look at it."

"No," Andy said, shaking her head, "I am _not_ going to have a doctor look at something very minor and unimportant when they could be saving someone's life instead."

"Then let me see," Sam sighed, "at least that way, if it's really fine, no one is going to be dying because of it."

"I'm fine," Andy said.

"McNally, it's either me, or the doctor," Sam warned.

"Fine," Andy sighed. Andy took of her vest reluctantly, but she didn't complain. She knew that Sam was worried about her, and it wouldn't be fair to complain about it. Once her vest was off, she unbuttoned the button-up shirt that covered the black t-shirt that she had on, and sighed lightly. She pulled the button up shirt off, and set it down next to her vest, and bit her bottom lip as she lifted the right side of her t-shirt halfway up to reveal a bruise that was forming on her side.

Sam sighed, seeing the bruise on Andy's side. It was large enough, and it was also obvious that she was hiding most of the pain that she felt from it. He hated to see that Andy was hurt, and he felt bad that there was really nothing that he could do to help.

Andy glanced down at the bruise on her side. She hadn't looked to see how bad it was until now, and she bit her lip harder, worried about what Sam was going to say. She knew that the bruise would go away and that it wasn't that bad, but it hurt, a lot, and she figured that Sam was going to make an unnecessarily big deal out of it. She lowered the shirt after a few seconds, and looked down at Sam with a somewhat nervous look in her eyes, but also a tired one

Sam just sighed. "Andy, I'm not going to make you see a doctor, but you're calling into the station to tell Best that you're not sticking around to take that kid's statement."\ And you're going to have to tell him that you're hurt, too."

Andy opened her mouth to protest, but Sam didn't let her. "I know you might not _want_ to," he said, "but you're going to call him. It's pretty obvious that the bruise on your side hurts a lot worse than you're letting on, and it's even more obvious that you're tired and want to go home."

Andy sighed, but pulled out her phone anyway. Sam was right. She was exhausted, her side was hurting a lot, she'd had a long day, and she just wanted to get a shower, change into clothes that didn't have blood and beer on them, and go to bed.

"Are you sure he'd be okay with me calling in to get someone else to handle this?" Andy asked, giving Sam a dubious glance.

"I'm sure," Sam reassured her.

"But being tired isn't an excuse for not being able to work overtime. Especially when working overtime means sitting in a hospital."

"But being hurt and tired is," Sam said. Andy still looked at him a little skeptically. "Believe me, McNally," he said, "Best would rather have you call in to let him know that you can't do overtime because you're hurt and tired than have you work twelve hours longer than you're supposed to while you're hurt. Especially after everything yesterday."

Andy sighed. Once again, Sam was right. She scrolled through the contacts on her phone before she found the one that read _S.S. Best_, and she clicked on it. She held the phone up to her ear, but Sam mouthed for her to put it on speaker, and she did as he said. She sat down on the chair next to where her vest and button up were, and waited for Best to pick up. After about two rings, he finally did.

"McNally?" he said, sounding curious as to why she was calling him.

"Yeah, uh," Andy started. She wasn't sure exactly what to say. She'd never asked to leave work, even during overtime, unless it was an emergency, but this was no emergency. She was just tired and her side hurt. She felt almost selfish asking to leave, and she didn't want Best to be annoyed with or disappointed in her for asking to do so.

Sam took the phone from Andy's hand, noticing that she wasn't quite sure what to say. "Hello Frank," Sam said into the phone, "this is Mrs. McNally's personal assistant. She _would_ be talking to you right now, but I think she's to tired to do so. Oh, you're on speaker, by the way."

Andy blushed, and gave Sam an annoyed look. '_What is wrong with you,'_ she mouthed. Sam just gave her a grin and winked, and she just looked away, shaking her head lightly._  
_

"Sam," Best said, "how are you?"

"I am _wonderful_, sir, thank you," Sam replied, "but Officer McNally here doesn't seem to fit that criteria."

"Pardon?"

"Well, you see, McNally seems to think that she needs to work twelve hours overtime to get a kid's statement, and I can't seem to convince her to call you and ask for someone to take over," Sam replied. Andy looked back at him, and he just grinned up at her, so she rolled her eyes, sighing.

"Hold on a minute," Best said, "you mean McNally's still working right now? The shift's over. She should be done. And what's this about working twelve hours overtime?"

"Well you see," Sam explained, "there's this kid in surgery, and his statement has yet to be recieved, so McNally here wants to wait until he's out and awake so that she can get his statement, and _then_ finish up her shift."

"That's nonsense," Best said, "tell her I'm sending in someone to take over."

"Oh, and that's not all," Sam continued, not sounding so lighthearted anymore.

"Sam," Andy said sternly, knowing what he was going to say.

"What else is there?" Best asked, sounding slightly concerned.

"Well, while McNally was arresting someone today-"

"Sam," Andy interrupted, "it's not a big deal. He said he's sending someone to take over, so just leave it at that."

"What is it?" Best asked. "McNally, either you can tell me, or Swarek can."

"It's nothing," Andy sighed.

"Swarek?" Best asked.

"The first guy she arrested hurt her earlier," Sam said seriously, looking up at Andy without a sighn of the smile he'd had moments before. Andy just looked away, not in annoyance, but in seeing the seriousness in his expression and hearing it in his voice. His concern for her made her stop wanting to pretend that her side didn't hurt much at all, and she didn't try to hide it from him much at all now.

"McNally?" Best asked.

"It doesn't hurt that badly anymore," Andy sighed, "it's not a big deal. Just a bruise. That's all."

"Swarek, your take on it?"

"It's just a bruise," he said, agreeing with Andy. "A big bruise, but still just a bruise. I just don't think she should have to be working overtime, especially while she's hurt."

"Well she won't be," Best informed the two, "I have someone on their way right now to take over, and Nash'll drive out to the hospital to give you a ride back to the station."

"Traci's still working?" Andy asked, puzzled.

"Yeah," Best sighed, "she insisted on staying for a while longer because she thinks she's uncovered somehting in the serial killings."

"Oh, okay," Andy said, "and thank you, sir."

"No need to thank me," Best assured her, "if anything, I should be apologizing for not sending someone out to take over for you sooner. I hadn't even realized that you didn't return at the end of the shift. Things have been pretty busy today with the whole serial killer business, and the fact that we're four people down."

"It's fine," Andy said, "I completely understand."

"Alright McNally," Best said, "you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, sir."

"Alright, someone should be there soon to take over for you. Bye Swarek, bye McNally."

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Thanks," Andy said.

Sam hung up the phone, and handed it back to Andy.

"You agreed to telling him you were hurt," Sam defended himself before Andy even had the chance to mention it to him, "and you weren't really saying anything, so I had to."

"I know," Andy sighed, "thanks, Sam. Really."

"Like I said," Sam replied, grinning a little, "any time, McNally."

**A/N: Ok, I know I haven't updated for like a week, so I'm hoping that this really long chapter makes up for it. It took me FOREVER to do, so I'm really hoping you like it. Please please please please _please_ comment and/or follow. I love to hear what people think of my stories, and I want to think what people think of this chapter. And who here wants James to live? Die? **

**~COMMENT~FOLLOW~FAVORITE~**


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay," Luke said, standing above his desk and looking at the papers and pictures that were laid across it, "so he just took Emily Baker, which means he's sticking to his schedule, so that means he's probably going to kill her four days from now, and Susan Todd in two days."

"And what do we have so far that can help us find him?" Traci asked, sighing from how tired she was and how stressful the day had been. Between having to work with Luke and having to worry about how Sam would react when he found out that a month's worth of hard work was a waste of time, Traci was beginning to get more stressed and tired. She was beginning to regret telling Best that she wanted to work overtime for a bit. She'd told him that she'd work overtime for about an hour because she and Luke thought that they found something out about the recent killings.

"Well the autopsy report shows that the girls were drugged at some point during captivity," Luke said, "but most of them aren't relevant to the cause of death at all, so it's likely he was using the drugs as a way to keep them controlled."

"And they died from what again?" Traci asked.

"Well the first victim died from an overdose on Phencyclidine, the second died from an overdose of Oxycontin," Luke explained, "which also makes it more likely that whoever's doing this used the drugs he had to keep his victims in his power."

"Yeah," Traci nodded, "and by the marks on their ankles and wrists, it's pretty obvious that he needed another way to keep them from overpowering him and getting away."

"Yeah," Luke agreed, "that makes sense. He has two girls at once, he drugs them so he can keep them under his control, and he ties them up so that there's no possible way that they can team up and overpower him."

"But what's the point in drugging them if he could just tie them up in the first place? There were no signs of sexual assault, which is what the drugs would usually be used for in this case. He would have had enough control over them both just tying them up."

"It could be sadistic," Luke noted, "I mean, it's obvious that he beat them. The drugs could have just been used to keep them from being able to scream or fight back, even though their tied up."

"Yeah," Traci nodded, "but that doesn't explain the PCP. If anything, it would only make the victims more agressive, which means it'd be harder for him to control them, even when they're tied up."

Luke bit his lip on the corner of his mouth, thinking. Traci was right. If the drugs were purely used to stop the victims from being able to fight, then PCP wouldn't have been useful. He had an idea, however, what it could've been used for. Just as he was about to tell Traci what he was thinking, Best walked into the room. "Nash," he announced. Traci turned her head to face him, unsure of why he wanted her.

"Yes?" she asked, raising her brows slightly in curiosity.

"Go down to the hospital where Sam, Chloe, and Oliver are, pick up McNally, and bring her back here," he told her, sounding a little tired.

"Is she okay?" Traci asked, furrowing her brow. Andy wasn't working anymore, why would Best need Traci to pick her up.

"If okay means trying to work way too long overtime, then yes," he said, "she is _more_ than okay."

"She's still working?" Traci asked, confused.

"Yes," Best said, "and I don't want her working. I'm sending someone in to take over for her, but she got there via ambulance, so she needs someone to bring her back here to get out of her uniform and everything. Since I don't want you two working too long overtime either, I'm sending you. Once McNally's back here, you're throwing in the towel for the week as well. Callaghan, you too."

"Sir," he said, glancing at Best now that he was being spoken to directly, "I'm still working on this."

"It's been a long week for all of us," Best said, "and the past we've all been working later than usual anyway. You all- we all, need to get some rest. Even I'm going to be taking the week off, and you know I don't like to do that when it's while we've got nothing important going, let alone when something huge, like a serial killer roaming the streets, is happening."

"Then why _are _you taking off a week?" Luke asked, knowing that it wasn't like Best to do things like this, especially when a serial killer is on the loose.

"Because it's been a long, stressful week," Best sighed, "and the past two days have been even more stressful."

"Well I'm just gonna stay here and work on the case a little longer," Luke said, "and I'm coming back tomorrow too. I'm not leaving while there's some guy on the loose who's killing a bunch of people."

"Callaghan, you are taking the week off, and that is an _order."_

"Why?" Luke asked, getting annoyed. "There's some psychopath running around killing women, and I'm not allowed to do my job and find him? I've worked days I'm supposed to have off before. I don't see why it's different all of a sudden. Had someone actually _died_ yesterday, it'd be different, but everyone is alive, so why can't I just try and figure out how to stop this guy?"

"I want to stay here too, Callaghan," Best said, not appreciative of Luke's stubbornness, even though he understood where it was coming from. He was feeling the same way, even though he wasn't expressing it. "But this is not my decision. We, meaning you, Nash, me, and everyone else who was a major part of what went down yesterday, were instructed to take a week off so that we can all unwind after such a stressful week." Even as he spoke, it was obvious that Best didn't like what he was saying, and he found it tempting to roll his eyes as he spoke. To him, it was a stupid thing to do, considering the fact that there was a serial killer going around.

"Instructed?" Luke scoffed. "By who? Who could _possibly_ want us to take off work for a week because we need to 'unwind'?"

"Superintendent Peck," Best said, finding it even more tempting to roll his eyes.

"Oh," Luke said, rolling his eyes before Best had the chance, "well that explains it."

"Pardon?" Best says, giving Luke a somewhat disapproving look. He knew what Luke was implying, and he didn't like it.

"Nevermind," Luke said, shaking his head as he gathered all the papers together. He knew that he couldn't blame Gail for her mother making everyone who was a major part of the previous day's events take a week off, because Gail would never ask her mom to do that. Plus, Gail would've had the week off anyway, they all would've, but the only thing that changed was that they weren't allowed to work by choice. But even though he knew Gail didn't ask for this to happen, he knew that it was happening because Superintendent Peck didn't want her daughter working at all after everything that happened, and she wouldn't only ask for Gail to have an excuse, because it would seem like she was playing favorites. _  
_

"I know what you were going to say," Best said, looking at Luke sternly, "and I don't like it, Callaghan. This is not just for you, this is not just for me, this is not just for Steve and Gail Peck, and this is not _just_ for anyone. This is for everyone who was a major part of what went down yesterday. We all need some time to get our heads straight, otherwise, when we're working, we won't be thinking right. We'll be too stressed out, and nothing will work right. Someone else will take over this case for the week, and when you return, you will be filled in and you'll be working on the case again if it isn't solved while you're gone."

Luke just nodded. "Alright," he said, sighing. He looked back at the papers on his desk. Best left the room, and Traci glanced at the clock to check what time it was. She was surprised to see that Andy had been working overtime for about half an hour now, considering everything that happened the day before. She figured that Andy would've just wanted to go home and rest after the week's events.

"Okay then," Traci said, "I'm gonna go and pick up Andy now." Traci left the room, and walked out to her car.

The drive to the hospital took about twenty minutes, and then she parked her car. She walked into the hospital, and had a good feeling as to where Andy would be.

"Hey," Traci said, walking into Sam's room. As she'd expected, Andy was sitting on the chair next to Sam's bed, talking to him.

"Oh, hey Trace," Andy said, looking over at her friend.

"Hey Sam," Traci said, glancing at Sam, "you haven't tried to break out yet?"

"Not yet," Sam said, chuckling lightly, "but I'll probably try soon. I hate hospitals. Probably more than anything else, actually."

Traci bit her lip. It was now or never, and if she chose never, Sam would _flip out_ once he got back to work. "Yeah," Traci sighed, glancing away nervously, "I can think of one thing that you'll probably hate more than hospitals."

"What's that?" Sam asked, giving Traci a serious and slightly confused look. By the somewhat nervous expression on her face, he could tell it wasn't good. He glanced at Andy, who was looking at Traci, but she didn't appear confused at all. She glanced at Sam with the same expression that Traci had on her face, and Sam knew that something was up that they both knew about. "What's going on?" he asked after a few seconds, now getting concerned.

"Uh, well, you see Luke's taking over for you," Traci started. Sam nodded slowly, worried about where this was leading. "Which means he's _kinda_ taking over the case we've been working on," she continued.

"Yeah," Sam nodded, "and?"

"Well, he wants to start over," she said slowly, seemingly worried about what Sam was going to say. Sam just stared at her for a second, mouth open.

"So everything we did," he said, obviously unhappy, "was for nothing?"

"Yeah," Traci said, picking her words carefully, "and the guy we were supposed to question tomorrow isn't getting questioned."

"And Callaghan just _assumes_ that this is the right decision to make?" Sam asked, annoyed. Traci nodded. "This is rediculous," he sighed.

"Well, it's not like we would've been allowed to question him tomorrow anyway," Traci shrugged, trying to make the situation seem less bad. "Everyone who was a big part of what went on yesterday is being forced to take the week off."

Sam just sighed, wanting to say more, but decided against it. "Alright," he sighed, "I'll talk to Luke tomorrow or something." Sam bit his bottom lip. He had a feeling that Luke was doing this to get on his nerves, considering the fact that he was obviously unhappy with Sam, and Andy, when he found out about Marlo being bipolar and that she was basically stalking Kevin Ford. He dismissed the though soon after, though, knowing that Luke probably had some other reason to restart the case. Not necessarily a good reason, but a reason. Luke wouldn't get rid of a month's worth of work just because he was annoyed with Sam. There was one thing that didn't stop bothering him about the subject, however. He knew that _part_ of the reason that Luke was doing what he was doing was because he was annoyed with him, which meant that he was also annoyed with Andy. Sam had a feeling that Luke would do something because he was annoyed with Andy as well.

"Alright," Andy said, not allowing herself to wince as she stood up, "I guess I've gotta go now," Andy said, glancing down at Sam. She just looked at him for a second. "Thanks," she added a moment later, "really."

"Any time, McNally," he smiled. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Andy said, smiling back a bit, "see you tomorrow."

Sam just smiled back at her as she left the room.

"Okay," Traci said, "_please_ tell me you two are going to get back together."

"Trace," Andy sighed, "I need_ time_, okay? We _both_ need time."

"But you wanna get back together, right?" Traci asked, giving Andy a 'you better say yes' look.

"Yes," Andy said, "but I can't just jump straight from Nick to Sam. That'd just be rude, and inconsiderate, and then I'd look like Luke to all of the people at the station."

"First off, you would _not_ look like Luke," Traci corrected her friend, "Luke _cheated_ on you, while you were engaged, and tried to hide it from you. You, however, did not cheat on anybody. Plus, I'm not saying you need to go running straight to Sam. I'm just saying you better get back with him."

"Oh trust me," Andy said, "I will. Hopefully."

"Good, because I am _so _McSwarek. McCollins never really sounded right for me."

"Wait," Andy said, chuckling a bit, "you actually had a _nickname_ for who I was with?"

"Not me," Traci defended herself, "the entire division."

"Wait, so the whole division had a certain name for me and Sam while we were together, and for me and Nick while we were together?"

"Yep," Traci replied, popping the 'p' as they stepped into the parking lot.

"Oh my god,_ please_ tell me that there was never one for me and Luke," Andy sighed.

"Oh, there was," Traci said, raising her eyebrows, "well, there were two. McCallaghan, and for everyone who didn't think it sounded right, Callanally."

"Oh my god," Andy rolled her eyes, "_Callanally_? How is that _any_ better than McCallaghan. Actually, McCallaghan is better than Callanally, and McCallaghan sucks, Trace."

"That's exactly how I felt," Traci agreed.

"You know what you would be?" Andy said, getting into the car. "You would be Pash. Peck, and Nash."

"Pash?" Traci scoffed. "I don't think so."

"Would you rather it be Neck?" Andy grined.

"Neck and Pash," Traci sighed, starting to drive, "that has to be one of the _worst_ nicknames for a couple ever."

"Not necessarily," Andy said, thinking, "I mean, with Sam and Marlo it was Crarek or Swuz, with Gail and Nick it was Pollins or Ceck, with Gail and Nick it was Piaz or Deck, and I mean come on, at one point, I was _Callanally."_

Traci laughed. "Okay, I guess you're right there. But I think McSwarek is the best. Just saying."

"Yeah yeah," Andy sighed, "let's just get to the station. I'm exhausted, my side hurts, and I do _not _feel like wearing a shirt with a twelve year old's blood on it."

"Your side hurts?" Traci asked, giving Andy a concerned look. "What'd you do?"

"_I_ did nothing," Andy sighed, "something just happened at that house Gail and I went to because some dad was abusing his family."

"And what happened?" Traci asked, looking back on the road. Although her eyes were no longer on her friend, it was obvious that she was concerned.

"Nothing that bad, Trace," Andy tried to assure her, "the guy just kicked me. It's no big deal, really. I'll have to pretty decent sized bruises for about a week, but other than that, everything's fine."

"Two?"

"Yes, Traci, two," Andy repeated, rolling her eyes a little, "he kicked me in the stomach and side. The stomach's not that bad at all, it hardly even hurts. It's the side that he actually kicked me kind of hard. But I'm fine, really. Don't worry about it."

"And you're sure you're fine?" Traci asked, skeptical.

"Positive."

"Okay," Traci sighed, "but if you're lying to me and you're actually really hurt, I'm not gonna be happy." They pulled into the parking lot, and Traci parked the car.

"I'm not lying, Trace," Andy assured her, climbing out. "I'll be back in like five minutes."

"There's no rush," Traci said, giving her friend a quick smile.

Andy walked into the station and into the locker room. She quickly changed out of her uniform and into a t-shirt and jeans. She stuffed her uniform into her gym bag, knowing she'd have to get it dry cleaned now. After a few minutes, Andy went back to Traci's car. She got into the passenger seat, once again trying not to grimace at the pain in her side as she sat down.

After about ten minutes, Traci plled up at Andy's place. "You sure you're alright?" she asked one last time.

"I'm fine Trace," Andy said, giving her friend a small smile, "thanks for the ride."

"No problem," Traci replied, "just promise me you'll try not to hurt yourself worse, okay? You've had a long week." Traci's concern was obvious, but to Andy's relief, she wasn't pushing it.

"Promise," Andy assured her, stepping out of the car, "and we've all had a rough week."

"Yeah," Traci said, "but you've had it harder than most of us."

"I'm fine," Andy reassured her once again, shutting the door lightly, "thanks."

"No problem," Traci said, smiling lightly.

Traci drove away after a minute or two, and once andy was in her place, she immediately went to her room, changed into some comfortable clothes, and climbed into her bed. Just as she was about to go to sleep, her phone vibrated on the bedside table, and she picked it up, sighing because she just wanted to go to bed.

She couldn't help but smile a bit when she saw the text from Sam on it. _You home yet? I told Traci to text me once you were back, but her phone went straight to voicemail when I called her.__  
_

Andy smiled a bit, appreciating that Sam was checking in on her. She quickly typed back a reply. _Yeah. Just got home. Her phone's probably dead. Thanks for checking in on me._

Sam's reply came back within a minute or two. _No problem, how's your side?_

Andy sighed. Why did _he_ have to ask _her_ how she was? He was the one who was shot. She should be asking _him_ how he is. _Hurts a bit, but it's fine. What about you? _

_I'm fine. Doctor gave me pain killers, so it doesn't hurt much._

_Ok. Good. Hey, did the guy who was taking over for me get there yet?_

_Yeah. A little after you left. _

_K. And thanks again._

_For what?_

_I dunno. Talking to me I guess. I needed that._

_No need to thank me. I'm always here to talk to if you need it._

_Thanks Sam. Really._

_You're welcome. Oh yeah, I asked the guy taking over for you to check in on the kid's condition. He's gonna be fine. Surgery isn't over, but he's gonna make it._

Andy let out a huge sigh of relief. James was going to be okay. He wasn't going to die. She suddenly felt the weight of her previous guilt lift off her shoulders, now knowing that she wasn't going to be the reason for a twelve year old's death. She still felt a little guilty, but not near as much anymore. She now realized that Sam was right about what he said earlier. She didn't do anything wrong. She couldn't have known that James was going to be stabbed. She did what she could, and it worked out okay. james was going to live, and she wouldn't have to feel guilty for a twelve year old's death.

_Oh thank God. Thank you, Sam. I really needed to hear that. I was about to go to bed thinking that he was going to die._

_Oh. Sorry. I didn't realize you were going to bed. I forgot you had a long day._

_Don't worry about it. You just saved me from a night of constantly waking up and feeling guilty. And my day wasn't as long as yours. It was just work._

_Well I'm glad I can help. I'm getting tired, and I know you are too. Night, McNally. Hope your side feels better in the morning._

_Night, Sam. Thanks again. It means a lot._

_I'm always here, Andy._

Andy smiled at his last message. She thought about it in two different ways. About him saying that he's always there to talk if she needs someone to talk to, but also relating to their earlier conversation about how she needed time. Then, too, he'd said that he would always be there, waiting for her, while she was trying to figure everything out between them. She wasn't sure if he was talking about that, him being there if she needs to talk to someone, or both, but whichever one it was, it made her feel like she has someone to go to if she needs to, which she hadn't really had for a long time.

**A/N: Hey everyone. I know I'm not updating as often as I'd like, and you'd like, but school's been pretty busy these past few weeks. Finals are this week, which means I'm working my butt off studying for them. On the bright side, though, this is the last week of school this year, so after Friday, I'll be able to update more often!**

**And with James, you didn't _actually_ think I could kill off a 12 year old, did you? Nah. I could never do that. Okay, I _could_, but I don't wanna kill of James!**

**I know this chapter wasn't really all that great, but there _is_ important information in it. So I'm planning on getting the next chapter out by the end of the day Friday or before then. Hopefully before then. And because I'm bored, here's 7 random facts: (1) I'm listening to Without Me by Eminem. (2) I love Eminem. (3) It's 11 p.m, so I'm about to go to bed. (4) I love to read, write, draw, listen to music (preferably rap, and preferably Eminem), and go for walks with my dog. (5) I'm like 65% Irish. (6) I love to write and sing my own music. (7) I love to run. I find it relaxing, fun, and I like the feeling you get after running.**

**If you're bored, post 7 random facts about you below!**

**~Comment~Fav~Follow~**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everybody. I know I haven't been very active on here lately but, even with school just ending, I'm still kinda busy. Plus, I'm in the middle of writing a few different Rookie Blue fan fics that I've had on my mind lately. There's gonna be a few pretty short chapters every so often, like this one, but I'll try to post longer ones as well to balance it all out. Hope you like!**

* * *

Dov was waiting outside Chloe's room for about ten minutes, waiting for her conversation with Wes to be over. He could only think that she was going to say she didn't want to be with Dov anymore. After all, Chloe, the 'open-book officer' at 15, had kept the fact that she was married a secret. That could only mean that she still had feelings for Wes, right?

Dov, who had been pacing back and forth in the hallway, was a little startled to hear the door open at Chloe's room, and spun towards it. Wes left the room, and gave him a quick glare as he walked by. That was good, right? Maybe he was angry at Dov because Chloe told him she wanted to stay with Dov instead. No, it could be bad too. Chloe could've chosen Wes, and Wes was trying to intimidate Dov so that he wouldn't try to stay with Chloe.

For a moment, Dov was so caught up in his thoughts that he forgot that he was able to see Chloe now, then he remembered. He quickly walked into her room, and stopped in the doorway, looking at her nervously, and also pitifully. He didn't like seeing her in a hospital bed. Sure, he'd been in the room while she was unconscious for a while before, so it wasn't like it was _brand_ new, but now she was awake. Now she was actually aware of the machines she was hooked up to and the fact that she might die.

"Hey," she said, smiling weakly, a little nervous as to what Dov's going to say, "come in."

He gave her small smile that didn't meet his eyes. In fact, his eyes were filled with sadness because he was so sure that Chloe was going to chose Wes over him. "Hey," he said, sitting uncomfortably on the chair near her bed. It wasn't that the chair itself was uncomfortable, he just felt a little weird sitting there, knowing for sure that her next words were going to be 'I'm sorry. I want to be with Wes. You and I were never really meant to be anyway.'

"I'm sorry," she said suddenly and quickly, "I know I should've told you, it's just something I don't like to talk about. Me and Wes, what we did was stupid, and it kind of just happened, and I swear to God I _don't_ have any feelings for him anymore, I just- God, Dov. I'm sorry. Please believe me."

Dov felt a little relieved that she said she didn't have feelings for Wes anymore, but he wasn't sure if it was really the truth. "Then why'd you as for him to come in first?" Dov asked.

"Because," she explained, her eyes apologetic, worried, and desperate for Dov to believe her, "I just wanted to get it over with and tell him that I don't love him anymore, and that we were never meant to be, and that I don't want him showing up again. I just, I really wanted to get it over with so that I wouldn't have to worry about it. Dov, I'm sorry, I really am."

"So you and him," he said, just to be sure, "your not going to get together again. You and him, you're over? For good?"

"For good," Chloe nodded. "Dov, I know you probably hate me right now," she added, "I mean, I kept something _huge_ a secret from you, but I swear to God, it doesn't mean I love you any less."

"I don't hate you," Dov sighed, "I just, I wanna know why you didn't just tell me in the first place."

"Okay," Chloe said, thinking of what to say, "you know how I'm like, an open book basically? I'm like the person who doesn't care about what people think, and who doesn't hide anything from anybody?" Dov nodded. "Okay, well, in every book, there's like, there's something that not everyone notices, you know? Like how the author might foreshadow something in it, but no one really notices it, they just read past it like it's not even there?"

"Uh, not exactly," Dov said, getting a little confused.

"Okay, well it happens," Chloe sighed, trying to think of a good way to say what she's saying. She gives up on her analogy, realizing that Dov isn't going to get anything she's trying to say. "Look, what I'm trying to say is this," she said, "even the most honest, truthful, down-to-earth, open people have secrets, right? Like, even really, really good people have horrible secrets that they want no one to find out. Like Mother Theresa."

"Mother Theresa?" Dov asked, a little confused.

"Yeah," Chloe said, her eyes growing wide, "she let orphans suffer because she thought it brought them closer to God! See, that's worse than my secret. At least I didn't make poor little orphans suffer!"

Dov chuckled a bit, his smile now meeting his eyes. "Yeah," he said, "I guess it is. But still, why did you keep it a secret anyway?"

Chloe bit her lip. She didn't want to tell Dov. She hadn't ever told anyone what all went on with her and Wes, and she didn't really want to. Not even Frank knew.

"Dov," she said, a dark and almost haunted look settling in her eyes as she looked down so she didn't have to meet Dov's gaze, "I said I'm sorry. Please just accept that, because I can promise you, I do _not_ have feelings for Wes anymore. That ended a long time ago."

Her voice sounded sad, and Dov looked at her, concerned. "Chloe," he said, "is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine," Chloe said, looking up at him and managing to fake a weak smile. She even managed to get rid of the look in her eyes, even though she knew that some of her sadness was still visible. Her eyes were watery, but she wasn't going to let herself cry. "Dov," she said, "please believe me. I love you, and I do _not_ love Wes. Wes is out of my life, forever, and he has been for a long time. I just forgot to change my emergency contact."

Dov smiled a bit, and took Chloe's hand in his. "Good," he said, "because I almost lost you yesterday, and I am _not_ going to lose you again."

* * *

Andy woke up, her side still hurting a bit, but not near as much as the day before, and got a shower, realizing that she hadn't gotten one the night before because of everything that was on her mind. Once she had changed into a plaid long-sleeve shirt and jeans, she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal. She then sat down on the couch in the living room and began watching TV. After about an hour or two, Traci called her.

"Hey Trace," Andy said, holding the phone up to her ear as she lied down on the couch.

"Hey," Traci said, "I just wanted to make sure you're alright. After getting kicked and everything yesterday, you know."

"I'm fine," Andy told her. "And that kid who was stabbed, James. He made it."

"That's great," Traci said, "did they tell you that before you left, or did they just contact you last night or something?"

"No, when I got home last night Sam told me that he's gonna be fine" Andy replied.

"Ooh, _Swarek _told you he was okay."

"He was just texting me and stuff, making sure I got home alright and everything," Andy sighed, rolling her eyes.

"_Oh,_" Traci said, "so he was _checking up_ on you. That's nice."

Andy sighed. "He was making sure I got home, because you didn't text him or pick up when he called you."

"Oh," Traci said, "oops. I was on the phone with Steve. I kinda forgot about that. _Anyways_, I hear Chloe and Dov are good. Oh my god, you know what we should do when Chloe and Sam are out?"

"What?" Andy sighed, knowing that Traci was going to say something that she would disagree with.

"We should all go out. Like, me and Steve. Chloe and Dov. You and Sa-"

"Woah woah woah," Andy corrected her friend, "Sam and I are _not_ together. Okay?"

"Let me guess, you're '_taking your time'_?" Traci sighed. Typical Andy.

"Yes," Andy said, "because I need to think things through before I get back with him."

"And why's that?"

"Because there's a reason Sam and I aren't together, Trace," Andy sighed, "there's a reason that we could never really work out together. I'm not about to totally ignore that."

Traci sighed. "You over-think everything, Andy. Sometimes, you just gotta go ahead and do something without taking a lot of time to think about what you're gonna do. If you think your way through life, you're gonna miss out on a _lot_ of things to do and enjoy."

Andy just sighed. "But sometimes over-thinking is better than not thinking at all."

"Andy, just- Oh, Leo. No!" Andy could hear something in the background, like something loud falling. "Here, Leo, just gimme that. No, no. It's fine. I can get it. Just, go watch TV or something- Andy, I'm sorry. I really gotta go. Leo just dropped this huge bucket of water- don't ask- and it is _all_ over the kitchen, and I gotta clean it up. Sorry. We'll talk later, alright?"

"It's fine," Andy replied, chuckling lightly, "I'll talk to you later."

She hung up, then realized that Sam had texted her.

_Are u coming over later?_

Andy, smiling a little, replied to Sam. _Yeah. I'll be over in a bit._


End file.
